Brain-Computer Interface Study | Sensory Feedback through Brain Stimulation

The Johns Hopkins Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, has been awarded a grant by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to conduct a clinical trial focused on recording and stimulating the brain of a person with tetraplegia. Ambarish Pawar, Research Fellow with the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins, explains three findings published in the Journal of Neurosurgery, Brain Stimulation, and the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society Virtual Conference. Citations: McMullen DP, Thomas TM, Fifer MS, Candrea DN, Tenore FV, Nickl RW, Pohlmeyer EA, Coogan C, Osborn LE, Schiavi A, Wojtasiewicz T, Gordon CR, Cohen AB, Ramsey NF, Schellekens W, Bensmaia SJ, Cantarero GL, Celnik PA, Wester BA, Anderson WS, Crone NE. Novel intraoperative online functional mapping of somatosensory finger representations for targeted stimulating electrode placement: technical note. J Neurosurg. 2021 Mar 26:1-8. doi: 10.3171/2020.9.JNS202675. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33770760. Osborn LE, Christie BP, McMullen DP, Nickl RW, Thompson MC, Pawar AS, Thomas TM, Alejandro Anaya M, Crone NE, Wester BA, Bensmaia SJ, Celnik PA, Cantarero GL, Tenore FV, Fifer MS. Intracortical microstimulation of somatosensory cortex enables object identification through perceived sensations. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2021 Nov;2021:6259-6262. doi: 10.1109/EMBC46164.2021.9630450. PMID: 34892544. Christie BP, Osborn LE, McMullen DP, Pawar AS, Thomas TM, Bensmaia SJ, Celnik PA, Fifer MS, Tenore FV. Perceived timing of cutaneous vibration and intracortical microstimulation of human somatosensory cortex. Brain Stimulation. 2022 May-Jun: 881-888. doi:10.1016/j.brs.2022.05.015. PMID:35644516.