InnerSpace Foundation People
Board Members
Advisers
Scientific Advisory Board
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Theodore W. Berger, Ph.D.
David Packard Professor of Engineering
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience
Director, Center for Neural Engineering
University of Southern California
Dr. Berger is a world leader in memory and neural prosthesis
research and brain-computer interfaces. He received his Ph.D. from
Harvard University and was an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Post-doctoral
Fellow at The Salk Institute. Dr. Berger has received a McKnight
Foundation Scholar Award, twice received an NIMH Research Scientist
Development Award, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science. Since 1992, Dr. Berger has been
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience at the University
of Southern California, and in 2003 was appointed the David Packard Chair of
Engineering. He has received an NIMH Senior Scientist Award,
the Lockheed Senior Research Award, was elected a Fellow of the
American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 1998,
received a Person of the Year "Impact Award" by the AARP for his work
in neural prostheses, was a National Academy of Sciences International
Scientist Lecturer in 2003, and an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer in
2004-2005. Dr. Berger was elected a Senior Member of the IEEE in 2005,
received a "Great Minds, Great Ideas" award from the EE Times in the
same year. Dr. Berger became Director of the interdisciplinary Center
for Neural Engineering at USC in 1997. He has published over 170
journal articles and book chapters, and is co-editor of Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain:
Implantable Biomimetic Electronics as Neural Prostheses
(MIT Press, 2005). Dr. Berger recently chaired a worldwide study of
brain-computer interfaces funded by multiple governmental, industry,
and nonprofit organizations.
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Edward S. Boyden, Ph.D.
Benesse Career Development Professor, MIT Media Lab
Leader, Neuroengineering and Neuromedia Group
Co-Director, MIT Media Lab Center for Human Augmentation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Boyden is Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT). He is a graduate of MIT, where he received undergraduate degrees in Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science, and in Physics, and a Master's degree
in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He received his Ph.D.
in Neuroscience from Stanford University and went on to a Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship
in the Departments of Bioengineering, Applied Physics, and Biological
Sciences at Stanford University. He is Co-Director of the Center for Human Augmentation at the MIT Media Lab and is interested in
solving currently intractable neurological and psychiatric problems, and in generally improving human frailties. In pursuit of these goals his group is inventing and applying new tools for analyzing and engineering brain circuits. Dr. Boyden writes a regular blog for MIT Technology Review on a broad range of topics across science and technology, with a specific focus on neuroscience and neuroengineering (http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/boyden/).
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Michele Giugliano, Ph.D.
Leader, Cortical Nanoelectrophysiology Group
Brain Mind Institute
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Dr. Giugliano is Group Leader at the Brain Mind Institute of the EPFL, Switzerland.
He received a Master's degree in Electronic Engineering cum laude from the
University of Genova, Italy. He earned a Ph.D. in Bioengineering at
the Polytechnic University of Milan and he went on to a Human Frontier
Science Program Organization Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of
Physiology at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
Dr. Giugliano has wide-ranging interests at the cutting edge of neuroengineering, nanomaterials,
and electrical engineering, with a general research focus on network-level electrophysiology in the neocortex.
To somewhat reduce the enormous complexity of this challenge he utilizes in vitro systems,
combining traditional patch-clamp recording techniques with non-conventional
stimulating recording tools and nanomaterials. Emphasizing the biophysics
of the interface between living neural tissue and artificial constructs, Dr. Giugliano is
exploring the functional coupling of electrically conductive carbon
nanotubes to neuronal networks, as a first step towards future generation neuroprosthetics.
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Richard Granger, Jr., Ph.D.
W. H. Neukom Distinguished Professor of Computational Science
Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Director, The Brain Engineering Laboratory
Dartmouth College
Dr. Granger holds Bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees from MIT and Yale, is Distinguished
Professor of Computational Science and of Psychological and Brain Sciences at
Dartmouth, and is Director of the Neukom Institute and the Brain Engineering
Laboratory at Dartmouth. He is internationally recognized for his research
ranging from computation to fundamental neuroscience, and the author of more
than 100 scientific papers and patents, including the recently-released book
"Big Brain: The Future of Human Intelligence" from Palgrave Macmillan. He is a recipient of many awards and
honors, including election as a Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. He is the inventor of a series of advanced systems for
military, commercial and medical applications, and FDA-approved devices and
drugs. He is on the boards of a number of technology corporations and government
research agencies. His work has been featured in many articles in the popular
press, including recent stories in Forbes, Wired, and on CNN.
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Philip Kennedy, M.D., Ph.D.
Founder and Chief Scientist
Neural Signals Inc.
Dr. Kennedy is a world-renowned pioneer in the development of
brain-computer interfaces for using signals from the brain to drive
a computer-controlled speech synthesizer. He led the
historic-first research effort to allow a locked-in man -- who is alert and
intelligent but unable to move or speak -- the ability to control a computer
directly with neural signals from his brain. Dr. Kennedy has been the subject
of numerous news stories and media interviews for this pioneering work. He
has received many honors and awards including the inaugural Alfred Mann
Foundation Award for Scientific Achievement (2004), the Resource Forum
Enterprise Award, the World Technology Award in Health and Medicine, the
Discover Magazine Annual Award for Technological Innovation in Assistive
Technology, and the Pharmacia & Upjohn Award. Dr. Kennedy is also a
practicing physician specializing in Neurology. In addition to his many
publications for adult professional audiences, Dr. Kennedy is a children's
non-fiction book and play author. He is also a frequent participant in
marathons and other long-distance running races.
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Randal A. Koene, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Laboratory of Computational Neurophysiology
Center for Memory and Brain
Boston University
Dr. Koene is Research Assistant Professor in the Laboratory of
Computational Neurophysiology and Center for Memory and Brain at Boston
University. He received an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Delft
University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands. He received his Ph.D. in
Experimental Psychology in 2001 from McGill University, Montreal,
Canada. Dr. Koene is a recognized expert in computer modeling of
large-scale neural networks and detailed neuron morphology for the
purpose of identifying significant functions encoded in neural
ensembles. He is interested in all levels of systems neuroscience and
in neuroengineering approaches for the advancement of neural prostheses
and neural interfaces.
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Rodolfo R. Llinás, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Chairman of the Department of Physiology & Neuroscience
New York University School of Medicine
Dr. Llinás is the Thomas and Suzanne Murphy Professor of Neuroscience and
Chairman of the department of Physiology & Neuroscience at the NYU School of
Medicine. He received his M.D. from the Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá
and his Ph.D. from the Australian National University working under Sir John Eccles.
Dr. Llinás is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences,
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society,
the Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (Spain), and the French Academy of Science.
He has received numerous honorary degrees from prestigious institutions of
higher learning from around the world. Dr. Llinás has made several
important scientific discoveries about the brain and nervous system and
has published over 400 scientific articles. He also has edited and published
several books including the recent critically acclaimed I of the Vortex:
From Neurons to Self. Dr. Llinás was the Chairman of NASA/Neurolab
Science Working Group and is an inventor of visionary technologies, including
intravascular nanowires for minimally invasive recording and stimulation
of brain neurons. This invention and a lengthy interview with Dr.
Llinás on the impact of this and other emerging neuroengineering
technologies are featured in the PBS special 22nd Century
(http://www.pbs.org/22ndcentury/interviews_rodolfollinas.html).
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Gary Marcus, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Director, Infant Language Learning Center
New York University
Dr. Marcus is Professor of Psychology at New York University and author of popular and scholarly books including The Birth of the Mind,
The Algebraic Mind: Integrating
Connectionism and Cognitive Science, and more recently, Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind. He is also editor of The Norton
Psychology Reader. Dr. Marcus's research on developmental cognitive
neuroscience has been published in over forty articles in leading journals such as Science, Nature, Cognition, Cognitive Psychology,
and the Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. In 1996 he won the Robert L. Fantz award for new investigators
in cognitive development, and in 2002-2003 he was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in Social and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.
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Henry Markram, Ph.D.
Director, Blue Brain Project
Director, Center for Neuroscience & Technology
Co-Director, Brain Mind Institute
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Dr. Henry Markram is at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.
He obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) from Cape Town University, South Africa and his Ph.D from the Weizmann Institute of
Science. During his PhD he discovered a link between acetylcholine and memory mechanisms by showing that acetylcholine modulates the primary
receptor linked to synaptic plasticity. Dr. Markram went to the USA as a Fulbright Scholar at the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
where he studied ion channels on synaptic vesicles. He then went as a Minerva Fellow to the Laboratory of Bert Sakmann at the Max
Planck Institute.
He was the first to alter the precise millisecond relative timing of single pre- and post-synaptic action potentials to reveal a highly
precise learning mechanism operating between neurons -- now reproduced in many brain regions and known as spike timing-dependent synaptic
plasticity (STDP). This was the first study that manipulated single pre- and post-synaptic spike times to
monitor the effect of synaptic changes.
He was appointed assistant professor at the Weizmann Institute for Science, Israel, where he started systematically dissecting out the
neocortical column. He discovered that synaptic learning can also involve a change in synaptic dynamics (called redistribution of synaptic
efficacy) rather than merely changing the strengths of connections. He also revealed a spectrum of new principles governing neocortical
microcircuit structure, function, and emergent dynamics. Based on the emergent dynamics of the neocortical microcircuit he and Wolfgang
Maass developed the theory of liquid computing, or high entropy computing.
In 2002 he moved to EPFL as full professor and founder/director of the Brain Mind Institute and Director of the Center for Neuroscience and
Technology. At the BMI, in the Laboratory for Neural Microcircuitry, Markram has continued to unravel the blueprint of the neocortical column,
building state-of-the-art tools to carry out multi-neuron patch clamp recordings combined with laser and electrical stimulation as well as multi-site
electrical recording, chemical imaging and gene expression. Markram has received numerous awards and published over 75 papers.
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Chi-Sang Poon, Ph.D.
Director
Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Neuroengineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Poon is Director of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology and
Neuroengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and he is
a Principal Research Scientist in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health
Sciences and Technology (HST). He received his B.Sc. in Electrical
Engineering from the University of Hong Kong, his M.Phil. in
Bioelectronics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and his Ph.D.
in Bioengineering and Systems Science from UCLA. He was Visiting Scientist at
Biologie Fonctionnelle du Neurone, C.N.R.S., France. He was elected
Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and
Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
Dr. Poon is interested in a broad array of problems in science and engineering,
including the development of brain-computer interfaces, devices for artificial
respiration, and mechanisms of non-associative learning.
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Steve M. Potter, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Laboratory for Neuroengineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Potter is Assistant Professor in the Laboratory for NeuroEngineering, Coulter
Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia
Institute of Technology and Emory University School of Medicine. He received his
Ph.D. in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at University of California-Irvine
and subsequently moved to the California Institute of Technology, where he held
Research Faculty positions until moving to the Georgia Institute of Technology
in 2002. Dr. Potter is a leader in the development of neuron-abiotic interfaces
and has pioneered important techniques and conceptual frameworks for using in
vitro approaches to understand complex neuronal systems. One prominent example
is his study of learning in neuronal cultures growing in dishes and on electrode
array substrates. Another related example is his work on animats--computer
simulated or robotic animals behaving in various environments. Dr. Potter directed
research involving the first animat controlled by cultured neurons.
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Justin C. Sanchez, Ph.D.
Director, Neuroprosthetics Research Group
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering
University of Florida, McKnight Brain Institute
Dr. Sanchez is a leader in brain-computer interface research. He founded
and is Director of the University of Florida Neuroprosthetics Research
Group and is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Neuroscience, and
Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida College of
Medicine, Engineering, and McKnight Brain Institute in Gainesville,
Florida. He specializes in the analysis of neural ensemble recordings,
adaptive signal processing, brain-machine interfaces, motor system
electrophysiology, treatment of movement disorders, and the
neurophysiology of epilepsy. Dr. Sanchez earned his Ph.D. (2004) and
M.E. degrees in Biomedical Engineering and B.S. degree in Engineering
Science (Highest Honors) with a minor in Biomechanics from the
University of Florida. The goal of his research is to develop
state-of-the-art novel medical treatments by operating at the interface
between basic neural engineering research and clinical care. In 2005
Dr. Sanchez won two prestigious awards for his work including
Excellence in Neuroengineering and more recently an American Epilepsy
Society Young Investigator Award. In 2006 he founded the Gainesville
Engineering in Medicine and Biology/Communications Joint Societies
Chapter and serves as the IEEE Gainesville Section Director for
membership development. His neural engineering electrophysiology
laboratory is currently developing direct neural interfaces for use in
the research and clinical settings.
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Rahul Sarpeshkar, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Research Laboratory of Electronics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Sarpeshkar obtained Bachelor's degrees in Electrical Engineering and
Physics at MIT. After completing his Ph.D. at Caltech, he joined Bell Labs as a
member of technical staff in the department of Biological Computation within its
Physics division. Since 1999, he has been on the faculty of MIT's Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science Department where he heads a research group on
Analog Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) and Biological Systems. He has
received several awards including the
Packard Fellow award given to outstanding young faculty, the ONR Young
Investigator Award, the NSF Career Award, and the Indus Technovator Award. He
holds over twenty patents and has authored more than 70 publications including
one that was featured on the cover of Nature Magazine. He has given over 100 invited
lectures. He is currently an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transcations on
Biomedical Circuits and Systems. He has received the Junior Bose award and the
Ruth and Joel Spira award for excellence in teaching at MIT. His research interests
include analog and mixed-signal VLSI, biomedical systems, ultra low power circuits
and systems, biologically inspired circuits and systems, molecular biology,
neuroscience, and control theory.
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Joe Z. Tsien, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Co-Director, Brain Discovery Institute
Medical College of Georgia
Shanghai Institute of Brain Functional Genomics
Dr. Tsien is an internationally recognized expert in the systems and molecular
bases of learning and memory. He is Professor of
Neuroscience at the Medical College of Georgia and is Co-Director of
the newly formed Brain Discovery Institute at MCG. Dr. Tsien has
published widely in systems neuroscience and neurophysiology, and a
broad area of special focus is understanding and controlling the code
neurons of the brain use to establish and store memory information. Dr. Tsien created an international
sensation by producing a transgenic mouse strain with enhanced memory
and learning relative to normal mice; he named the mouse "Doogie" for
its prodigious mental abilities. Dr. Tsien is a prominent author and
public figure for the promotion of neuroscience and he has been the
subject of and has written outstanding articles for the popular science
press, including The Memory Code, which appeared in the July 2007 issue of Scientific American.
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Kevin Warwick, Ph.D.
Professor of Cybernetics
University of Reading
Dr. Warwick is Professor of Cybernetics at the University of
Reading, England, where he carries out research in artificial
intelligence, control, robotics and biomedical engineering. Dr. Warwick
earned his first degree at Aston University, followed by a Ph.D. and a
research post at Imperial College, London. He has held positions at
Oxford, Newcastle and Warwick universities prior to being offered the
Chair in Cybernetics at University of Reading. Dr. Warwick is a
Chartered Engineer (UK), a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and
Technology, and is a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute.
He is Visiting Professor at the Czech Technical University in Prague
and in 2004 was Senior Beckman Fellow at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Warwick was presented with The Future of Health
Technology Award from MIT, was made an Honorary Member of the Academy
of Sciences, St. Petersburg, and in 2004 received The Institution of
Electrical Engineers (IEE) Achievement Medal. Dr. Warwick has produced
over 400 publications on his research including more than 90 refereed
journal articles and 25 books. He received the Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Millenium Award (2000) for his
schools robot league project. Dr. Warwick is an outspoken advocate of
human enhancement and is a pioneer in interfacing humans with
electronic devices. He has been the subject of his own pioneering
"Cyborg" experiments in which surgeons have interfaced his nervous
system with implanted electronic chips.