The Nicolelis lab is turning science fiction into reality, making it possible for a machine to be controlled entirely by signals from the human brain.
Lab director Miguel Nicolelis is the scientist who developed the first brain-machine interface, a device that facilitates the recording and transferring of neural activity. This technology is what has allowed the researchers at the Nicolelis lab to translate the brain activity to control the movement of robotic devices.
More recently, the Nicolelis lab has been building exoskeletal suits that can be controlled by paralyzed patients using the brain-machine interface technology. A study released from the lab last Wednesday showcased the ability of monkeys to control two virtual arms, the first evidence of bimanual movement. This study gave further support to the theory that large neuronal ensembles, not single neurons, control motor functions.
The existing technology had to be innovated in order to record a larger number of signals required for controlling bimanual movements in monkeys, said Peter Ifft, a biomedical engineering graduate student in the lab and lead author of this recent study.
“We wrote an algorithm that can handle large numbers of channels of up to 500 cells," Ifft said. "It can decode the signal in real time with 100 millisecond resolution."
Ifft recorded nearly 500 cells simultaneously, which is the highest number recorded to date.
When Nicolelis, co-director of the Center of Neuroengineering, founded the lab in 1994 to understand how large populations of brain cells interact in behaving animals, experiments in this field were conducted on rats and researchers were studying groups of about 50 neurons, he said. Two years later they began working with monkeys and developed their technology to record much larger populations of neurons.
Back then, it was believed that single neurons were the key functional units of the brain, explained Nicolelis. Using the brain-imaging interface technology, he was able to demonstrate that a large network of neurons, not a single neuronal pathway, compose functional units in the brain.
In 2004, the lab recorded the brain activity of Parkinson’s patients during a surgical procedure, and the activity of multiple neurons were recorded simultaneously. This was the first study involving the use of brain-machine interface technology on humans ever published, and the reaction was immense.
“The whole field exploded,” he said. “You can claim honestly that the field was built here at Duke in the 20 years that I have been here.”
Although this high profile lab is well-respected as the leader in the field, there was originally some scrutiny of Nicolelis’ ground-breaking ideas.
“When we first proposed this, some of our colleagues and funding agencies said this would never work,” Nicolelis said. "[The NIH] was very skeptical 20 years ago and we had to fight pretty hard and go all over the world to defend the idea.”
Mikhail Lebedev, a senior research scientist in the group, said he certainly noticed some of these challenges when he joined the lab.
“Groundbreaking ideas are the hardest to implement," he said. "Scrutiny is one of the key components of scientific research. One must scrutinize, troubleshoot and select from options."
Now, however, there is no longer doubt about the validity of the group’s work.
“No one is questioning that what we did is real,” Ifft said.
He explained that existing controversy about the research regards the best way to apply the research to humans. The lab continues to work on ways to begin developing their neuroprosthetics for clinical use, including a transition to wireless control, power efficiency and cost effectiveness, Ifft said.
The lab currently consists of approximately 50 people including staff, undergraduates, graduate students and PhD candidates, Nicolelis said.
Lebedev noted that projects are team-based, with at least three people per project.
In addition to inner-lab collaboration, the group has collaborators world-wide including some in Europe and throughout the Americas.
“I have always believed in global collaborations to advance science,” Nicolelis said.
Lebedev noted that due to the pioneering nature of the work done in the Nicolelis lab, other groups often build on the research.
In addition to pioneering the field of neuroprosthetics, Nicolelis is also a strong advocate of applying science education and technology in the service of society. He established the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute for Neuroscience of Natal in Brazil which serves as a research center, but also provides services to the local community.
“[The Institute] is devoted to neuroscience and to using science for social transformation,” Nicolelis said.
Along with research, the Institute features a middle school and high school where students can learn science through a hands on approach, he explained. There is also a women’s healthcare clinic that does research on high risk pregnancies and provides free prenatal care to over 12,000 women each year.
The services provided have drastically changed the community, Nicolelis said.
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