Meet our speakers, who are active leaders in the T.I.M.E. (Technology, Information, Media, Entertainment) areas.
Miguel Nicolelis
Duke School of Medicine Professor in Neuroscience & Founder of Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University
Miguel Nicolelis is the Duke School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience at Duke University, Professor of Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering and Psychology and Neuroscience, and founder of Duke's Center for Neuroengineering. He is Founder and Scientific Director of the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute for Neuroscience of Natal. Dr. Nicolelis is also founder of the Walk Again Project, an international consortium of scientists and engineers, dedicated to the development of an exoskeleton device to assist severely paralyzed patients in regaining full body mobility.
Dr. Nicolelis has dedicated his career to investigate how the brains of freely behaving animals encode sensory and motor information. He was first to propose and demonstrate that animals and human subjects can utilize their electrical brain activity to directly control neuroprosthetic devices via brain-machine interfaces (BMI).
His pioneering BMI studies have become extremely influential since they offer new potential therapies for patients suffering from severe levels of paralysis, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. Today, numerous neuroscience laboratories in the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America have incorporated his experimental paradigm to study a variety of mammalian neuronal systems. His research has influenced basic and applied research in computer science, robotics and biomedical engineering.
Dr. Nicolelis is a member of the French and Brazilian Academies of Science and his award-winning research has been published in Nature, Science, and Scientific American and has been widely reported in national and international media. He is the author of Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines and How It Will Change Our Lives.
Dr. Nicolelis has dedicated his career to investigate how the brains of freely behaving animals encode sensory and motor information. He was first to propose and demonstrate that animals and human subjects can utilize their electrical brain activity to directly control neuroprosthetic devices via brain-machine interfaces (BMI).
His pioneering BMI studies have become extremely influential since they offer new potential therapies for patients suffering from severe levels of paralysis, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. Today, numerous neuroscience laboratories in the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America have incorporated his experimental paradigm to study a variety of mammalian neuronal systems. His research has influenced basic and applied research in computer science, robotics and biomedical engineering.
Dr. Nicolelis is a member of the French and Brazilian Academies of Science and his award-winning research has been published in Nature, Science, and Scientific American and has been widely reported in national and international media. He is the author of Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines and How It Will Change Our Lives.
