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Brain Interfaces
The last two decades have seen rapid advances in nano, micro, photonic, electrical, magnetic, and molecular technologies that can sense the inner workings of the brain and intervene to reset, repair, regenerate or replace damaged or degenerating brain regions. Recent research has been investigating closed loop systems that can deliver drugs or electrical stimulation in response to signals captured from within the brain. However the design of such systems requires extensive tests in animals and humans that are complex and expensive and raise difficult ethical issues. Brain simulation can enormously facilitate this task, making it possible to simulate new interfaces before animal and human testing. The HBP will thus set up a special Facility for Brain Interfaces. The Facility will work with the project’s other facilities to build a simulation-based design platform. It will then use the platform to design medical implants for a range of diseases including addiction, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, attention disorders, depression, epilepsy, hearing loss, insomnia, mild cognitive impairment, migraine, multiple sclerosis, obesity, pain, Parkinson's disease, blindness, hearing loss, schizophrenia and stroke.