How To Think About the Future of Neural Interfaces
Join us in Arlington, VA June 12-14!
Neural Interfaces 2025 is just two months away!
The NANS team has pulled together a dynamic, diverse agenda with multidisciplinary tracks and cross-functional discussions stuffed into a few short days, starting Thursday June 12th.
The number of neurotech conferences continues to multiply, but few are focused entirely on convening experts in the most celebrated and enigmatic area of the field: neural interfaces.
Within and beyond BCI, the rapid and intersecting evolution of R&D methods, clinical applications, commercial strategies, and research priorities has created a kaleidoscopic landscape where cutting-edge materials and methods are converging and evolving in real-time.
I’m excited to be in attendance in Arlington, Virginia (DC’s backyard) to listen and learn from some of the world’s foremost experts in BCI, neuromodulation and beyond.
Haven’t registered? Check out the program and secure your spot today.
Here are five topics I will be tracking over the course of the three-day gathering.
1. People at the Center
Patients and end-users of neural interface have the most skin in the game. While their expertise has historically been undervalued by medical technologists, clinical researchers, and regulators, recent progress has been encouraging. A pair of sessions will explore systemic developments in clinical research as well as policy and advocacy work that’s raising the bar for the whole field.
In “Voices of Experience: Patients in Neural Interface Trials,” moderator Prasad Shirvalkar, MD, PhD, of UCSF; Jennifer French, MBA, of Neurotech Network; and Jon Nelson, patient advocate at Motif Neurotech, will share their perspectives on how to create better clinical studies en route to building stronger solutions for people in the real world.
In “Building Bridges with Stakeholder Communities to Drive NeuroTech Development,” Jen French will take the stage again with invited co-moderator Nick B. Langhals, MSE, PhD, of NIH, and speakers Katie Sale, BFA, and Rachel Wurzman, PhD, both from the American Brain Coalition, to review some of the historic advances in public-private partnerships that will help neural interface technology attain commercial use in the years ahead.
2. Value Creation
As commercial motor neuroprostheses advance up the field, evidence generation will transcend safety and efficacy studies to explore broader dimensions of value creation. How will the field’s thinking have to evolve to support broader social goals for neurotech?
Mt. Sinai’s BCI Summit last fall highlighted emerging ways to assess the ways in which BCI can benefit their users. Two tracks at Neural Interfaces this year visit this question through differing lenses:
In “Advancing Neural Interfaces Beyond the Lab for Real-World Rehabilitation,” Hamid Charkhkar, PhD, from Case Western Reserve University, and Helen Huang, PhD, from UNC Chapel Hill/NC State, will co-moderate a conversation with Lee E. Fisher, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh; James Abbas, PhD, from the U of Arkansas; and Deanna Gates, PhD, from the U of Michigan. Rehabilitation represents a critical but often overlooked window for patients to make meaningful and demonstrable improvements to their health. As such, it is a ripe proving ground for neurotechnology, as well as a critical market opportunity to understand.
In “Intracortical Microstimulation (ICMS) as a Translational Tool for Neural Circuit Research and Sensory Restoration,” Robert Gaunt, PhD, and Takashi D. Kozai, PhD, both from University of Pittsburgh, will co-moderate a panel with speakers Chengcheng Huang, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh; Erin Purcell, PhD, from Michigan State University; and Eduardo Fernandez, MD, PhD, from University Miguel Hernández.
In parallel with technical orientation to the state of science and engineering behind sensory restoration, commercial questions loom: If and when we can reliably restore the sense of touch to people who have lost it, what will that cost? What is that restoration “worth,” and to whom?
3. Future of “Read & Write”
The commercial arc of technology bends towards faster, smaller, more powerful, more efficient tools over time. Next-generation interfaces promise to decipher brain data at higher rates, and stimulate circuits with more precision, reliability, and independence. I’m keen to hear more about the state of these advances to understand the clinical and personal benefits they could hold for people in need, as well as the commercial implications for industry.
In “High Channel-Count Neural Interfaces: Applications and Challenges,” moderator Ahmed M. Raslan, MD, from Oregon Health & Science University, will lead panelists Duygu Kuzum, PhD, and Shadi Dayeh, PhD, both from UCSD; Timothy Harris, PhD, of HHMI and Johns Hopkins University; Vikash Gilja, PhD, of Paradromics; and Angelique Paulk, PhD, from Harvard.
What can be done with high channel-count neural interfaces that cannot be done with today’s leading BCI? This promises to be an informative discussion about the relentless pace of hardware innovation, as well as the parallel expansion of data strategy in today’s AI era.
In “Advancing Closed-Loop Bioelectronic Medicine,” Luis Lujan, PhD, of Mayo Clinic, and Christopher Puleo, PhD, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will co-moderate speakers Imanuel Lerman, MD, MS, of UCSD/InflammaSense; Alik S. Widge, MD, PhD, from U of Minnesota; and Anuj M. Bhardwaj, MS, MBA, of SecondWave Systems, Inc.
What can be learned among companies advancing closed-loop approaches in different bioelectronic applications? I’m looking forward to learning about technical, regulatory, and practical considerations for building sense-and-stim systems.
4. Follow The Money
This spring I tracked $2.3B in private capital that went to 127 companies last year and calculated that Neurotech funding this year is on pace to top $4B. But has that number changed as a result of the new administration’s early actions?
What new funding trends will surface by mid-year? What are investors looking for, and what are they wary of when it comes to funding neural interface startups? What insights can revenue-stage companies offer pre-money founders in terms of commercial strategies for the road ahead?
In “Beyond NIH: Funding the Future of Neurotechnology,” invited co-moderators Douglas J. Weber, PhD, of Carnegie Mellon University, and Emily Caporello, PhD, of the NIH, will lead a panel with Lu Zhang from Fusion Fund; John Propst, PhD, MBA, of Nexus Neurotech Ventures; and invited speaker Tracey Wheeler of the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. In a separate commercialization panel on Friday, Lee E. Fisher, PhD, from University of Pittsburgh, and Jeffery Kramer, PhD, from Volta Research, will discuss key topics and trends this year.
In “Bench to Bedside Adventures and Misadventures: The Entrepreneur’s Journey,” Chad Andresen, MS, from LunOSA, and Parag G. Patil, MD, PhD, from the University of Michigan will join Jennifer Ernst from Tivic Health; Philip R. Troyk, PhD, from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT); and invited speaker Maria Bennett, MS, of SPR Therapeutics, for a discussion about commercial translation from the saddle.
5. What’s Next?
We are at the dawn of a Precambrian explosion of new technologies oriented to the brain and nervous system. The tracks at this event cover some of the early advances defining the next era of functional human augmentation. I’m eager to expand my vocabulary and learn new concepts and anticipated breakthroughs in research and medicine from speakers whose work makes “conventional BCI” seem old hat.
In “Biohybrid Neural Interfaces: Merging Biology and Technology,” Damiano G. Barone, MD, PhD, FRCS, FCNS, from Houston Methodist, will join George Malliaras, PhD, from the University of Cambridge; D. Kacy Cullen, PhD, from UPenn; and invited speaker Jonathan Rivnay from Northwestern University for a discussion about integrated biotechnology devices. As Science Corp and others are commercializing this frontier, I’ll seek orientation to what biohybrid neural interfaces are designed to do, what timeline they’re developing on, and who they will be built to help.
There is, of course, much more: Sessions on light-based neuromodulation, advances in deep-brain stimulation and cranial & peripheral nerve stimulation to name a few. Beyond the neurotech subject matter, I look forward to the important discussions around the evolving federal landscape and what it means for the field.
In addition to an important panel on future leadership in neural engineering, I’m intrigued by Friday morning’s session, currently titled “Neural Interfaces for the Future” featuring invited speaker Joseph O'Doherty, PhD, from Neuralink Corp.
Will I see you in Arlington in a couple of months? Register Today!
*Note that program and speakers are subject to change.
Please note the mixer event listed earlier has been cancelled. Next Time…