Bi-directional Neural Interfaces for Hand Grasping and Sensory Feedback (B10)

• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology ; Biomedical Systems Technology ; Experimental and Theoretical Network Neuroscience
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 528760423

Patients with paralyzed hands could tremendously benefit from neural interfaces that do not only transmit motor commands directly to a prosthetic hand, but also receive somatosensory feedback, i.e., tactile information conveyed back from the robotic hand to the brain. We propose to combine in macaque monkeys the decoding of hand and finger movements from premotor and motor cortex population activity with providing tactile information from the robotic hand to sensory cortex by electrical stimulation to the hand area of somatosensory cortex. Thus, we will establish a bi-directional neural interface for hand grasping, which we will test for its ability to provide superior hand control over current unidirectional interfaces.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1690: Disease Mechanisms and Functional Restoration of Sensory and Motor Systems
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Hansjörg Scherberger