Functional Neurosurgery Research
Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory
The Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory (NPTL) conducts research aimed at developing clinically useful neural prostheses for people with paralysis. Our eventual goal is to extract signals recorded from surgically implanted brain electrodes to provide accurate, high-speed, and robust control of computer cursors and other assistive technologies such as robotic arms. Our current projects are focused on improving communication rates provided by neurally-directed computer cursor control; combining high degree-of-freedom control signals decoded from the brain with advances in robotics to control a robotic arm; and the development of wireless systems which will enable the next generation of neural prosthetic devices. We make extensive use of our close relationship with the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Systems Laboratory (NPSL), allowing us to benefit from tools and technologies developed in NPSL's pre-clinical research.