Interdisciplinary Initiatives Program Round 10 - 2020

Helen Bronte-Stewart, Neurology & Neurological Sciences
Jaimie Henderson, Neurosurgery
Krishna Shenoy, Electrical Engineering
Paul Nuyujukian, Bioengineering and Neurosurgery
Scott Delp, Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering

Neural interfaces are at the forefront of treatment for neurological and neuropsychological disorders. Whether it is helping a person with spinal cord injury move a cursor on a computer screen or improving mobility for a person with Parkinson’s disease, the innovative design of neural interfaces requires the joint expertise of clinicians, scientists, and engineers and has the potential to radically improve quality of life for a wide variety of patient subgroups. We propose the development of the Bio-X Neural Interfaces Innovation Center (NI²C) to facilitate collaboration between Stanford Medicine, Stanford University, and industrial partners. The long-term vision of the Bio-X NI²C is to be an innovation hub that provides the engineering, scientific and regulatory support to successfully execute translational research, develop intellectual property, and design the next generation of innovative brain computer interfaces (BCIs). This will be achieved through the three main missions of collaborate , innovate and educate. Through collaboration with a diverse team of faculty, the NI²C will develop a common software framework, testing environment, and training program for neural interfaces. The goal of this seed grant is to develop these initial frameworks for the Bio-X NI²C so that investigators can secure future funding to translate these innovations beyond the center and support the long-term success of the center.