028 – Roundtable: Neurotech vs Neuroscience

Neurotech Podcast

Vikash Gilja is an assistant professor at UCSD, where he researchers brain-machine interfaces. Dr. Gilja is an advisor to Paradromics. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University, an M.Eng and B.S. in EECS from MIT, and a B.S. in brain and cognitive sciences from MIT.

Rob Edgington is the head of AI at Paradromics. He holds a Ph.D. in brain-machine interfaces from UCL, and an M.Phys in physics from the University of Oxford.

Konrad Kording is a full professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he works on data problems in neuroscience. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from ETH Zurich.

Top 3 Takeaways

1. Basic neuroscience and neural engineering can and should co-evolve, much the same as physics and electrical engineering.
2. More granular understandings from neuroscience help inform machine learning models applied in neurotechnology.
3. Speech prostheses are a promising area for modern BMIs.

Show Notes

• [1:10] Rob’s introduction.
• [1:24] Konrad’s introduction.
• [1:35] Vikash’s introduction.
• [1:47] Avery’s introduction.
• [2:05] Neuroscience vs. neurotechnology.
• [2:55] Basic science and causality.
• [3:35] Definition of causality.
• [6:10] Closed-loops require causal models.
• [8:15] Visual system as closing the loop.
• [9:55] Electrical engineering is an analogy to neural engineering.
• [12:20] Modern BMI devices.
• [13:00] More data means more degrees of freedom.
• [15:15] Distributed recordings.
• [19:40] Data processing constraints in BMI.
• [20:00] Ontology refinement.
• [22:35] Timescale of tool development.
• [23:45] Future-proofing a BMI.
• [25:00] On-chip processing.
• [26:00] Evolution of BMIs.
• [27:15] Industry is good for integrating engineering constraints.
• [29:30] Estimating intended speech.
• [30:20] Neurotech for locked-in patients.
• [32:30] Visual communication.
• [34:00] ML vs. DL in neurotech.
• [37:00] Better models are inspired by basic science.
• [38:35] Hiring in neurotechnology.

Selected Links

• Paradromics
• The Neurotechnology Age – Matt Angle, CEO Paradromics

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