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The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the Center author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Center Overview
The Building Reliable Advances and Innovation in Neurotechnology (BRAIN) Center develops and tests the efficacy, safety, and long-term reliability of patient-centered neurotechnology. The BRAIN Center allows research that would not be possible within the traditional silos of academic, industry, regulatory, and clinical communities.
The BRAIN Center's mission is to develop safe, effective, and affordable personalized neurotechnologies for diagnostics, restoration, enhancement, and rehabilitation of sensory, motor, affective, and cognitive functions. This is pursued by supporting innovative interdisciplinary research across the multiple dimensions of brain function and behavior, with the ultimate goal of improving quality of life.
The BRAIN Center's discoveries:
- Revolutionize the way scientists and engineers approach the design of complex human-machine systems using data.
- Interpret brain function from the molecular to the network levels.
- Harness neuroplasticity and emergent properties at multiple time scales to enhance the engagement and efficacy of human-machine interfaces.
- Enable innovative devices that support accessible health care and empower individuals to control their own health, wellness, and fitness.
- Redefine the human-technology frontier.
Center Personnel
Jenny Fula Torrijos
Program Manager UH Site)
(713) 743-7575
lyfulato@central.uh.edu
Wendy Johnson
Project Coordinator ASU Site
(480) 965-7678
Wendy.A.Johnson@asu.edu
Jeffrey Kleim
Site Director ASU Site
(480) 965-6832
jakleim@asu.edu
Jose Contreras-Vidal
Co-Director for Innovation and Translation, and Site Director University of Houston
(713) 743-5773
jlcontreras-vidal@uh.edu
Marco Santello
Center Director
(480) 965-5479
marco.santello@asu.edu
Research Focus
The BRAIN Center research topics focus on the needs of the members and the capabilities of the participating universities. Topics include:
- Invasive neurotechnology.
- Medical devices law, regulation, and ethics.
- Mobility assessment and clinical intervention.
- Neurological clinical research.
- Neurorehabilitation technology.
- Noninvasive neurotechnology.
BRAIN Center research areas include:
- Big Data.
- Clinical trials.
- Device development.
- Device interoperability.
- Neural activity measurement.
- Neuromodulation.
- Neurorehabilitation and assistive devices.
- Regulatory science.
Awards
Age-related diseases are increasingly a leading cause of disability. Millions of younger adults live with neurological disorders, limb loss from amputation or paralysis from spinal cord injury. Traumatic brain injury can have lifelong effects on cognitive-motor function, significantly decreasing quality and length of life. There is a critical need for state-of-the art technology to effectively address the care and rehabilitation of these individuals. However, innovation in biomedical devices and other neurotechnologies faces several challenges: 1) The pace of innovation is moving more quickly than the rate of evaluation for acceptable performance; 2) Standards and regulatory science for the rigorous validation of safety, efficacy, and long-term reliability are missing; 3) Lack of open access to technologies that slows the transfer of novel technologies to the market; and 4) Current technologies are not affordable. To address these challenges, the University of Houston will partner with Arizona State University to establish and host a multi-institution Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) for Building Reliable Advances and Innovation in Neurotechnology (BRAIN).
The BRAIN Center's vision is a synergistic, interdisciplinary approach to develop and validate affordable patient-centered technologies. BRAIN will leverage expertise in neural systems, cognitive and rehabilitation engineering, robotics, device development, clinical testing and reverse-translational research at the University of Houston and Arizona State University to 1) enhance the rate of development and empirical validation of new technologies through partnerships with industry leaders and other strategic partners; 2) develop standards and technologies in human and non-human models, using a multi-scale approach ranging from single neurons to organismal systems; 3) characterize innovative technologies such as biosensors and quantitative analysis tools for systems and behaviors; 4) evaluate the impact of these technologies on quality of life; and 5) reduce the cost of neurotechnologies. The BRAIN Center's mission is multifold: to accelerate the progress of science and advance national health by transferring engineering innovations in neurotechnology to the end users, and to rectify underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields by broadening new participation and retaining current participants in STEM. It also will focus on problems in the neurological space that affect underrepresented groups disproportionately. BRAIN will become an innovative neurotechnology hub for the Southwest, creating a pipeline from discoveries to solutions while helping talented students, scientists, and engineers in the region take their innovations to the next level and solve one of the greatest unmet medical and health care needs of our time.
BRAIN will leverage a unique concentration of researchers and innovative research and development ecosystems with industrial partnerships to design, develop, test, and characterize neural technologies that can effectively transform the lives of disabled individuals. The Center will investigate all levels of neural function to enhance not only current technologies but also understanding of the mechanisms underlying neurological disease and injury. The University of Houston IUCRC Site - a Hispanic-Serving Institution - will focus on multi-scale, multi-modal, and multi-disciplinary and noninvasive approaches to understanding all aspects of human neural function "in action and in context" in complex natural settings, and to deploying noninvasive technologies treating human disability. The University of Houston IUCRC site will bring a broad range of expertise spanning the spectrum of cognitive, affective, neural, and rehabilitation engineering across the human lifespan, big data analytics, computational modeling, wearable electronics, mobile brain-body imaging devices, intervention techniques including peripheral, brain-machine interfaces, smart human-machine systems, wearable robots, virtual and augmented reality and other noninvasive solutions.
Read More >
Age-related diseases are increasingly a leading cause of disability. Millions of younger adults live with neurological disorders, limb loss from amputation or paralysis from spinal cord injury. Traumatic brain injury can have lifelong effects on cognitive-motor function, significantly decreasing quality and length of life. There is a critical need for state-of-the art technology to effectively address the care and rehabilitation of these individuals. However, innovation in biomedical devices and other neurotechnologies faces several challenges: 1) The pace of innovation is moving more quickly than the rate of evaluation for acceptable performance; 2) Standards and regulatory science for the rigorous validation of safety, efficacy, and long-term reliability are missing; 3) Lack of open access to technologies that slows the transfer of novel technologies to the market; and 4) Current technologies are not affordable. To address these challenges, Arizona State University will partner with University of Houston to establish and host a multi-institution Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) for Building Reliable Advances and Innovation in Neurotechnology (BRAIN). The BRAIN Center's vision is a synergistic, interdisciplinary approach to develop and validate affordable patient-centered technologies. BRAIN will leverage expertise in neural systems, cognitive and rehabilitation engineering, robotics, clinical testing, and reverse-translational research at the University of Houston and Arizona State University to 1) enhance the rate of development and empirical validation of new technologies through partnerships with industry leaders and other strategic partners; 2) develop standards and technologies in human and non-human models, using a multi-scale approach ranging from single neurons to organismal systems; 3) characterize innovative technologies such as biosensors and quantitative analysis tools for systems and behaviors; 4) evaluate the impact of these technologies on quality of life; and 5) reduce the cost of neurotechnologies. The BRAIN Center's mission is multifold: to accelerate the progress of science and advance national health by transferring engineering innovations in neurotechnology to the end users, and to rectify underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields by broadening new participation and retaining current participants in STEM. It also will focus on problems in the neurological space that affect underrepresented groups disproportionately. BRAIN will become an innovative neurotechnology hub for the Southwest, creating a pipeline from discoveries to solutions while helping talented students, scientists, and engineers in the region take their innovations to the next level and solve one of the greatest unmet medical and health care needs of our time.
BRAIN will leverage a unique concentration of researchers and innovative research and development ecosystems with industrial partnerships to design, develop, test, and characterize neural technologies that can effectively transform the lives of disabled individuals. The Center will investigate all levels of neural function to enhance not only current technologies but also understanding of the mechanisms underlying neurological disease and injury. The Arizona State University IUCRC Site will focus on multi-scale, multi-modal, and multi-disciplinary and noninvasive approaches to understanding human neural function, and to deploying noninvasive technologies treating human disability. The Arizona State University site will bring a broad range of expertise spanning invasive and non-invasive neurotechnology and rehabilitation engineering to improve neural function across the human lifespan, as well as intervention techniques including peripheral, brain-machine interfaces, neuroprostheses, neuromodulation, data analytics, wearable assistive devices, and rehabilitation robotics. The Arizona State University innovation ecosystem includes a strong culture of entrepreneurship, use-inspired research, and interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty, industry, and clinical partners.
Read More >
Disability is becoming a leading cause of healthcare concern because of the increase in survivable trauma and an aging population. Millions of adults live with neurological disorders, brain injury, mental illness, limb loss or paralysis. There is a need for accessible technologies that can more effectively address the care and rehabilitation needs of these patients. However, innovation in neurotechnology faces several challenges: The pace of innovation exceeds the rate of evaluation for acceptable performance; standards for the validation of safety, efficacy, and reliability of neurotechnology are lagging; current technologies are costly, limiting their deployment for treatment of disabilities; and the need to train new generations of physicians and engineers in emerging technologies steadily increases.
The Industry-University Cooperative Research Center for Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology (IUCRC BRAIN) will address the above challenges. The Center’s vision is built on a convergent research approach to the design and validation of reliable, ethical, patient-centered neurotechnologies and their use in understanding neural systems. BRAIN leverages wide-ranging expertise from neural, cognitive and rehabilitation engineering to neurorobotics, neuromodulation, and ethical artificial intelligence to enhance the rate of development and empirical validation of new neurotechnologies through partnerships with industry and other strategic partners while developing a highly skilled workforce; evaluating the impact of these technologies on quality of life; and integrating knowledge across disciplines —such as the humanities with neurotechnologies — to understand collective intelligence, and augment physical and cognitive capabilities.
The Center’s mission is multifold: to accelerate the progress of science and advance the national health by transferring neurotechnology to end users and to promote access for underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and math by broadening new participation and retaining current participants. BRAIN will address problems in the neurological space that disproportionately affect underrepresented groups. BRAIN will become a neurotechnology hub by creating a pipeline from discoveries to solutions, while helping students, scientists, and engineers solve one of the greatest unmet medical and health care needs of our time.
The University of Houston Site – a Hispanic-Serving Institution and the Lead Site for the Center – will focus on multi-scale, multi-modal, and trans-disciplinary approaches to advance our understanding of neural function and translate discoveries to create neurotechnology for diagnostics, neurorehabilitation, and improving the human condition. The Center will maintain a project repository (https://nsfbrain.org/) comprised of products and services for 10 years after the completion of this project.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Read More >
Disability is becoming a leading cause of healthcare concern because of the increase in survivable trauma and an aging population. Millions of adults live with neurological disorders, brain injury, mental illness, limb loss or paralysis. There is a need for accessible technologies that can more effectively address the care and rehabilitation needs of these patients. However, innovation in neurotechnology faces several challenges: The pace of innovation exceeds the rate of evaluation for acceptable performance; standards for the validation of safety, efficacy, and reliability of neurotechnology are lagging; current technologies are costly, limiting their deployment for treatment of disabilities; and the need to train new generations of physicians and engineers in emerging technologies steadily increases.
The Industry-University Cooperative Research Center for Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology (IUCRC BRAIN) will address the above challenges. The Center’s vision is built on a convergent research approach to the design and validation of reliable, ethical, patient-centered neurotechnologies and their use in understanding neural systems. BRAIN leverages wide-ranging expertise from neural, cognitive and rehabilitation engineering to neurorobotics, neuromodulation, and ethical artificial intelligence to enhance the rate of development and empirical validation of new neurotechnologies through partnerships with industry and other strategic partners while developing a highly skilled workforce; evaluating the impact of these technologies on quality of life; and integrating knowledge across disciplines —such as the humanities with neurotechnologies — to understand collective intelligence, and augment physical and cognitive capabilities.
The Center’s mission is multifold: to accelerate the progress of science and advance the national health by transferring neurotechnology to end users and to promote access for underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and math by broadening new participation and retaining current participants. BRAIN will address problems in the neurological space that disproportionately affect underrepresented groups. BRAIN will become a neurotechnology hub by creating a pipeline from discoveries to solutions, while helping students, scientists, and engineers solve one of the greatest unmet medical and health care needs of our time.
The Arizona State University Site – a public institution recognized as a national leader in innovation – will focus on multi-scale, multi-modal, and trans-disciplinary approaches to advance our understanding of human neural function and translate discoveries to create neurotechnology for diagnostics and neurorehabilitation. The Center will maintain a project repository (https://nsfbrain.org/) comprised of products and services for 10 years after the completion of this project.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Read More >