Nicolelis pioneering BMI studies have become extremely influential since they offer new potential therapies for patients suffering from severe levels of paralysis, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy. Nicolelis has discovered a series of key physiological principles that govern the operation of mammalian brain circuits.ĭr. Nicolelis launched a new field of investigation, which aims at measuring the concurrent activity and interactions of large populations of single neurons throughout the brain. Using this approach in a variety of animal species, as well as in intra-operative procedures in human patients, Dr. Nicolelis pioneered and perfected the development of a new neurophysiological method, known today as chronic, multi-site, multi-electrode recordings. Nicolelis was first to propose and demonstrate that animals and human subjects can utilize their electrical brain activity to directly control neuroprosthetic devices via brain-machine interfaces (BMI). Nicolelis has dedicated his career to investigate how the brains of freely behaving animals encode sensory and motor information. Nicolelis is also founder of the Walk Again Project, an international consortium of scientists and engineers, dedicated to the development of an exoskeleton device to assist severely paralyzed patients in regaining full body mobility.ĭr. He is the founder and Scientific Director of the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute for Neuroscience of Natal. Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., Ph.D., is the Duke School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience, Duke University Professor of Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering and Psychology and Neuroscience, and founder of Duke's Center for Neuroengineering. We argue that the therapeutic effect of DCS is related to modulation of cortical theta waves, and propose that this closed-loop interface has the potential to become an effective and semi-invasive treatment for refractory epilepsy and other neurological disorders. This method decreased seizure episode frequency by 44% and seizure duration by 38%. Seizures were detected in real time from cortical local field potentials, after which DCS was applied. Rats were implanted with cortical recording microelectrodes and spinal cord stimulating electrodes, and then injected with pentylenetetrazole to induce seizures. Here we demonstrate a closed loop brain-machine interface that delivers electrical stimulation to the dorsal column (DCS) of the spinal cord to suppress epileptic seizures. Although electrical neurostimulation has been proposed as an alternative treatment for drug-resistant cases of epilepsy, current procedures such as deep brain stimulation, vagus, and trigeminal nerve stimulation are effective only in a fraction of the patients.