Brain Computer Interfaces

Professor Jack Judy, Director
Macrosystems and NeuroEngineering Research Laboratories

Brain research is a field that advances methodically for years, and then, unexpectedly, advances with tremendous leaps. In order to quicken the pace of neuroengineering-enabled breakthroughs, Prof. Judy's laboratory is currently involved with several neuro-engineering research collaborations, ranging from the development and applications of technologies to advanced fundamental neuroscience, to research and development of devices of immediate clinical relevance that address serious brain disorders. These collaborative research projects aim at:

• Improving the neural-electronic interface. Appropriately tailored deep-brain stimulation (DBS) can reduce or eliminate some of the major symptoms of essential tremor and some of the symptoms of Parkinsonian-related diseases. Many believe that DBS could also be adapted to address depression and other emotional disorders, metabolism and morbid obesity, and other serious health issues.
• Developing new, more capable, brain-computer interfaces (BCI) that transform neural signals into electronic signals that control a computer or a machine or other physical device (e.g., robotic appendage). We seek to miniaturize the large desktop BCI systems into tiny implanted or head-mounted systems that can amplify, filter, wirelessly communicate, network, and digital-signal process brain signals into electronic control signals.
• Addressing the clinically important need for hydrocephalus shunts that do not clog. Our approach is to exploit the advances in magnetic microactuator technology made in Prof. Judy's MEMS lab, by integrating a ferromagnetic microactuator into an otherwise normal hydrocephalus shunt. By using external magnetic fields, the implanted MEMS device can be driven to mechanically dislodge obstructing material from the shunt orifice.

Professor Judy also leads a group of faculty fromseveral departments of UCLA to design and offer the first formal graduate-level neuroengineering training (NET) program in the world. The UCLA NET program is a collaboration between the Biomedical Engineering and the Neuroscience interdepartmental graduate programs.