Tufts University Raises its BCI Profile with Donation of BrainGate Technology
Staff report
September 2020 issue
Tufts University, located on campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, MA, is recognized among the premier research universities in the U.S. The university recently raised its profile among neurotechnology researchers with the donation of technology and other assets from BrainGate Inc. and its former CEO Jeff Stibel, a Tufts alumnus.
Stibel acquired much of the BrainGate IP, including the trademark for the term BrainGate, in 2009 from Cyberkinetics Inc., which closed its doors soon thereafter. Blackrock Microsystems retained the rights to Cyberkinetics’ NeuroPort device and Brown University, together with its partners Stanford, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Providence VA Medical Center, and Case Western Reserve University, has pursued independent research on a system called BrainGate2 [NBR Jul10 p1].
Stibel’s donation will facilitate a parallel research effort at Tufts with the goal of developing a new generation of neurotechnologies. In addition, Stibel donated funds to launch the Stibel Dennett Consortium at the university, forming a research hub in part to further build upon the BrainGate technology and to advance the study of brain and cognitive science.
“BrainGate is a foundational platform for BCI technologies being developed around the world, and I can think of no better place for its advancement than Tufts University,” said Stibel. “BrainGate is on the cutting edge of cognitive science and implantable brain technology, and it is important to us that it is protected and responsibly developed. I believe this donation will lead to a world in which those afflicted with neurologic disease or serious injury will be able to communicate and control advanced prosthetics by using just their mind. I am thrilled to work with Tufts’ talented researchers, ethicists, and professors to engineer this technology and continue to improve the quality of people’s lives.”
“This donation is transformative for Tufts University and the study of brain and cognitive science,” said Anthony Monaco, president of Tufts University. “The formation of the Stibel Dennett Consortium along with the BrainGate technology puts Tufts at the center of global cognitive science and neurotechnology innovation. We are truly grateful for Jeff’s and his partners’ generous gesture and energized by the possibilities that lie ahead.”
As part of the donation, Stibel also endowed two new professorships. Gina Kuperberg has been appointed the inaugural Dennett Stibel professor of cognitive science, and Stephanie Badde has been named the Stibel Family assistant professor of brain and cognitive science. Kuperberg and Badde plan to build upon the BrainGate technology, exploring a deeper understanding of how the brain processes language as well as how the brain gathers information from human senses to tell our body how to move.
“The BrainGate technology has the potential to restore individuals’ sense of touch and body posture in parts of the body where they’ve lost it. We hope to find out more about how movements and sensory information are connected in the brain, and how to leverage this connection so that one day BrainGate technology will enable patients to use artificial limbs in a naturalistic way,” said Badde.
