Posts by Leigh Robert Hochberg, MD, PhD
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Interim Safety Profile From the Feasibility Study of the BrainGate Neural Interface System
Massachusetts General Hospital researchers report that BrainGate, a brain–computer interface for people with paralysis, was not associated with any serious adverse event requiring device explantation, resulting in death or resulting in permanently increased disability during the one-year post-implantation period.
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Mass General Center Advances Technology for Neurorecovery
The Massachusets General Hospital Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery works with industry to bring novel neurorehabilitation devices to market.
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First Direct Evidence Detected of Learning-related Memory Replay in Human Brains
In the motor cortex of two men who had a brain–computer interface implanted, neural spiking patterns corresponding to a previously learned motor sequence were replayed during rest.
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Evidence That Human Brains Replay Our Waking Experiences While We Sleep
For the first time, researchers have direct evidence of learning-related replay in the human brain during sleep. A recent study using implanted multi-electrode arrays in two participants found identical neural firing patterns during game-play awake periods and sleep periods.
Biography
Dr. Hochberg is a vascular and critical care neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he also directs the Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery. In addition, he is on the Consulting Staff at Spaulding Rehabilitation; Professor of Engineering at Brown University; Senior Lecturer on Neurology at Harvard Medical School; and Director, VA RR&D Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Providence RI. His research focuses on the translation of neurophysiology and computational neuroscience discoveries into devices to restore function for patients with neurologic disease or injury. His research has been published in journals such as Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Science Translational Medicine, and the Journal of Neuroscience. As Principal Investigator and lead Clinical Investigator of the BrainGate Neural Interface System pilot clinical trials, he has earned numerous awards, including a Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Award, the Jospeph B. Martin Award in Basic Science, the Herbert Pardes Prize in Clinical Research, and the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholars award. He and his BrainGate colleagues also received the Israel Brain Technologies International B.R.A.I.N. Prize, presented by President Shimon Perez. Dr. Hochberg's research has been supported by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs and the NIH, including NIDCD and the BRAIN Initiative/NINDS. Dr. Hochberg received his Sc.B. with Honors in Neural Science from Brown University in 1990. He received his MD and PhD from Emory University, where he was continued an intern in Internal Medicine. He was a resident and Chief Resident in Neurology at Mass General/Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where he also completed a fellowship in Stroke/Neurocritical Care in 2004.
Neuroscience Care at Mass General
Through a combination of unmatched expertise, creativity and compassion, Mass General Neuroscience relentlessly advances the fields of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Psychiatry to unleash our patients’ potential.