201
202
200
203
204

Address: Calwerstraße 14
72076 Tübingen


Person profile: 07071 29-82311


Fax number: 07071 29-4141


Research Group Applied Neurotechnology

The Applied Neurotechnology Group is an interface between the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and the MEG Center. The research focuses on the clinical use of brain-computer interfaces (BCI/BMI) and their combination with non-invasive brain stimulation methods.

Here, she is concerned with the study of neuroplasticity in the context of BCI training in clinical application. In this context, BCI systems are also combined with other forms of neurotechnology, e.g. non-invasive brain stimulation. Brain stimulation techniques have been used clinically for many decades to alter brain activity in a targeted manner to promote neuroplasticity. The aim of combining both methods is to better understand and influence neuroplastic processes. The aim is to develop new and effective therapeutic methods to treat CNS diseases individually and with few side effects.

Contact

frontend.sr-only_#{element.contextual_1.children.icon}: +49 7071 29-82624


frontend.sr-only_#{element.contextual_1.children.icon}: 07071 29-82625


frontend.sr-only_#{element.contextual_1.children.icon}: Building 204, Level 3, Room 310


Management:

frontend.sr-only_#{element.contextual_1.children.icon}: Surjo R. Soekadar, M.D.


frontend.sr-only_#{element.contextual_1.children.icon}: +49 7071 29-82640


E-mail address: surjo.soekadar@med.uni-tuebingen.de


Advantages of the therapy

The advantage of this type of therapy is that BCI training can be applied directly and with high specificity where the origin of many neurological and psychiatric diseases is suspected, i.e. in a change of normal brain physiology. Accordingly, therapeutic BCI systems aim at normalizing disease-specific brain activity. In this context, different CNS diseases are currently being investigated at the University of Tübingen, including stroke, depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, addiction and chronic pain.

Projects

In this joint project, an innovative technological solution is being sought to maintain and improve the communication skills and participation of severely paralyzed people. To this end, a robust, non-invasive, wireless brain-computer interface (BCI) system is being developed for use in people who have suffered a stroke, paraplegia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or brain injury.

Learn more about BMBF

System explanation

Such a system translates voluntary changes in brain electrical activity into control signals for various devices relevant to everyday life and thus improves the independence of patients who are otherwise dependent on constant assistance. This requires the adjustment of the system to the respective neurophysiological characteristics of the disease.

Goal-oriented cooperation between research, science and companies

Based on the goal-oriented cooperation of research, science and companies, such a system is developed and clinically tested in its suitability for everyday use as well as functionality.






WAY (Wearable interfaces for hand function recovery) is funded by the EU within the 7th Framework Programme.

WAY investigates the recovery of hand function after amputation, stroke or other neurally induced movement impairments. The aim of the project is to develop a non-invasive Brain-Neural Computer Interaction (BCNI) system that combines the patient's brain signals from different sources, including imaging, and allows the control of a hand prosthesis by means of multimodal sensory feedback.

Learn more

Partner

The project "Combination of EEG/MEG based brain-computer interfaces and neurostimulation in the context of neurorehabilitation and mental augmentation" is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the framework of the international NIH-DFG Research Career Transition Award. The award enables young researchers in the life sciences to pursue complex scientific research over a period of five to six years. Some of the scientific work will be carried out at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA and some at a German university. The project will investigate whether people with chronic paralysis after stroke can learn to change brain activity in specific areas using so-called BCI training, and whether this training leads to an improvement in movement ability. In addition, we will test whether electrical stimulation of the brain facilitates BCI training for the patients.

In 2012, the team of Dr. Soekadar and Prof. Dr. N. Birbaumer received the highest endowed award in BCI research for work resulting from this project, among others.

Learn more

Subsidies

  • UKT: fortüne
  • BMBF
  • DFG
  • European Union EU

Selected publications

  • Soekadar SR, Witkowski M, Gómez C, Opisso E, Medina J, Cortese M, Cempini M, Carozza MC, Cohen LG, Birbaumer N, Vitiello N. Hybrid EEG/EOG-based brain/neural hand exoskeleton restores fully independent daily living activities after quadriplegia. Science Robotics 1, eaag3296 (2016).
  • Witkowski M, Garcia-Cossio E, Chander BS, Braun C, Birbaumer N, Robinson SE, Soekadar SR. Mapping entrained brain oscillations during transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Neuroimage 2016;140:89-98; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.10.024.
  • Deecke L, Soekadar SR. Beyond the point of no return: last-minute changes in human motor performance. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2016; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1604257113.
  • Garcia-Cossio E, Witkowski M, Robinson SE, Cohen LG, Birbaumer N, Soekadar SR. Simultaneous transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG): assessing the impact of tDCS on slow cortical magnetic fields. Neuroimage 2016;140:33-40; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.09.068.
  • Liew S-L, Rana M, Cornelsen S, Fortunato de Barros Filho M, Birbaumer N, Sitaram R, Cohen LG, Soekadar SR. Improving Motor Corticothalamic Communication After Stroke Using Real-Time fMRI Connectivity-Based Neurofeedback. Neurorehabil Neural Repair 2016;30:671-675; doi: 10.1177/1545968315619699.

Certificates and Associations