Speakers

Jocelyne Bloch is neurosurgeon at the University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV) where she leads the functional neurosurgery unit, while Grégoire Courtine is a neuroscientist with a background in physics. Jocelyne and Grégoire are Professor within the NeuroX institute of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), within the neurosurgical department of CHUV, and at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lausanne (UNIL). Together, they founded the Defitech Center for Interventional Neurotherapies, named .NeuroRestore, which develop bioengineering strategies involving neurosurgical interventions to restore neurological functions. In 2014, they also co-founded ONWARD Medical (Euronext: ONWD) with the aim to translate the neurotherapies developed at .NeuroRestore into clinical treatments. Jocelyne and Grégoire are known worldwide for the conception of neuroprosthetic implants that restored walking in people with chronic paralysis.

Robert Gaunt is an Associate Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Gaunt earned a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Victoria and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Alberta. His primary research interests are in sensorimotor control of the hand and bladder and developing neuroprosthetics to restore function to these systems after injury and disease. This work encompasses studying sensorimotor control in the central and peripheral nervous systems and investigating how biomimetic design principles can be used to develop neuroprosthetic technologies aimed at restoring sensory, motor, and autonomic functions for people with disease or injuries including spinal cord injury and limb loss. The hand and bladder are scientifically linked by the powerful role that somatosensation has on both reflex function and consciously mediated behaviors, while the functional importance of these two systems are frequently highlighted by people living with spinal cord injury. Active research topics include developing bidirectional implantable brain computer interfaces to restore movement and sensation to people with upper-limb paralysis as well as creating novel neural interfaces to regulate bladder function. He holds a number of patents, and his work has been recognized by the National Academy of Engineering and covered by numerous national and international media outlets.

Dr. Bo Hong received his Ph.D. degree of Biomedical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2001. From 2004 to 2005, he was a visiting scientist in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Neural Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, USA. He is now full professor with School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, and an investigator of McGovern Institute for Brain Research at Tsinghua. His main research interests are brain computer interface and language network in human brain. His team designed and developed minimally invasive BCI – NEO system and conducted the first-in-human clinical trial successfully in 2023. He has co-authored more than 80 papers on Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, Nature Communications, NeuroImage, Journal of Neuroscience etc. He has served as the Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering and IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

Dr. Cory Inman is the director of the Immersive Neuromodulation and Neuroimaging (INMAN) Laboratory in the Psychology Department at the University of Utah. He received his BA in Psychology from Georgia State University and his PhD from Emory University. He completed his first postdoctoral fellowship in the Neurosurgery department at Emory University and a second postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA. He has broad interests in helping to establish approaches that push our understanding of emotion and memory from the laboratory into the wild, real world. The INMAN Lab is currently undertaking studies examining the use of direct brain stimulation to the human amygdala for episodic memory enhancement and direct brain recordings of deep memory structures, like the hippocampus during, navigation and autobiographical memory encoding in real-world settings. Outside the lab, he spends his time playing with his 2 kids, playing guitar, playing basketball, and exploring as many outdoor adventures as possible including white water rafting, snowboarding, hiking, and climbing.

Camille Jeunet-Kelway received her PhD in cognitive sciences in 2016 at the University of Bordeaux, France. After a post-doctoral fellowship in Inria (Rennes, France) and EPFL (Geneva, Switzerland), she was recruited as a tenured CNRS Research Scientist. In 2021, she has joined the institute for cognitive and integrative neurosciences (INCIA) in Bordeaux, where she leads interdisciplinary research on the use of EEG-BCIs to improve or restore cognitive and motor abilities, both for clinical (stroke patients and patients with Parkinson disease) and non-clinical (athletes) populations. She is particularly interested in studying the learning mechanisms underlying neurofeedback training as well as the acceptability of neurofeedback procedures and BCI technologies. Camille Jeunet-Kelway has received 3 PhD awards, the European Label as well as 5 national fundings from the French research agency for her research. In 2022 she was awarded the Early Career Award in neuroscience from the BCI Society. Since 2024, she is deputy head of the SMART reasearch and innovation plateform, an “intelligent, connected gym”, dedicated to sports and movement sciences.

Dr. Kirton is Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary and an attending Pediatric Neurologist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. He holds the Dr. Robert Haslam Chair in Pediatric Neurology. Dr. Kirton’s research focuses on applying neurotechnologies to generate new opportunities for life participation for children with severe disabilities. He directs the Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program (perinatalstroke.com, @PedStrokeYYC) and ACH Brain Computer Interface Laboratory (BCI4kids.com, @BCI4kids).

Bao-Liang Lu received his PhD in electrical engineering from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, in 1994. Since August 2002, he has been a full professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. He currently serves as the Director for the Center for Brain-Like Computing and Machine Intelligence, the Key Laboratory of Shanghai Education Commission Intelligent Interaction and Cognitive Engineering, and Ruijin-Mihoyo Laboratory. He received the 2018 IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development Outstanding Paper Award and the 2021 Best of IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing Paper Collection. He is also the Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing and Journal of Neural Engineering and an IEEE Fellow. His research interests include deep learning, large EEG model, emotion artificial intelligence, and affective brain-computer interface.

Prof. Dr. Natalie Mrachacz-Kersting, a member of IEEE, received her Ph.D. degree in biomedical engineering from Aalborg University in 2005. She currently holds the Chair for Neuroscience and Neuroscience in Sport at the Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg and is a member of the BrainLinks-BrainTools Cluster of Excellence at IMBIT, Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg. Dr. Mrachacz-Kersting serves on the Executive Committee of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) as the Vice President-elect for Member and Student Activities. She is also the Chair of the IEEE Women in Biomedical Engineering (WI(BM)E), member of the Steering Committee of IEEE Brain Technical Community, and the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering Journal. She has previously held positions at Aalborg University in Denmark, FH Dortmund in Germany, and the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Dr. Mrachacz-Kersting’s research focuses on medical technology, biomedical engineering, and neuroscience. She has authored over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, more than 130 conference papers and abstracts, ten book chapters, and one book. Her current projects primarily involve Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) for patient populations, including those suffering from stroke or ALS. Dr. Mrachacz-Kersting received several awards including the international BCI award in 2017.

Mu-ming Poo is the Scientific Director of Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Director of Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology, and Paul Licht Distinguished Professor in Biology Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley. He studied physics at Tsinghua University in Taiwan and received PhD in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 1974. During 1976-2012, He had served on the faculty of UC Irvine, Yale, Columbia, and UCSD, and UC Berkeley. He was the founding director of Institute of Neuroscience, CAS (1999-2019), and a member of Chinese Academy of Science, Academia Sinica, and Hong Kong Academy of Science, and an international member of US National Academy of Science. He was awarded Ameritec Prize, International Science & Technology Cooperation Award of P. R. China, and Gruber Neuroscience Prize. Poo’s research interest includes axon growth, synaptic plasticity, and the use non-human primates to study higher cognitive functions and human brain disorders. He is the Executive Editor-in-Chief of National Science Review and the editorial board member for many journals, including Neuron and Progress in Neurobiology.

Dr. Ying Mao is a highly respected neurosurgeon at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, China. He now serves as the director of the National Center for Neurological Disorders, the chairman-designate of the Neurosurgery Section of the Chinese Medical Association and the president of Huashan Hospital. With years of experience under his belt, Dr. Mao is known for his expertise in treating complex neurological conditions and performing advanced brain surgeries. Patients appreciate his compassionate approach and his dedication to staying at the forefront of medical technology and techniques. Beyond the operating room, Dr. Mao is an avid researcher, contributing significantly to the field of neurosurgery with numerous publications and studies. He’s also a beloved mentor, guiding the next generation of neurosurgeons with his wealth of knowledge and experience. When he’s not working, Dr. Mao enjoys spending time with his family, exploring new culinary delights, and indulging in a good book. His commitment to his patients, coupled with his warm personality, makes him a standout figure in the medical community.