I/UCRC for Building Reliable Advances and Innovation in Neurotechnology (BRAIN)

与年龄有关的疾病日益成为致残的主要原因。数以百万计的年轻人患有神经疾病、因截肢而失去肢体或因脊髓损伤而瘫痪。创伤性脑损伤可能会对认知运动功能产生终生影响，显著降低生命质量和寿命。迫切需要最先进的技术来有效地解决这些人的护理和康复问题。然而，生物医学设备和其他神经技术的创新面临着几个挑战：1)创新的步伐比可接受性能的评估速度更快；2)缺乏严格验证安全性、有效性和长期可靠性的标准和监管科学；3)缺乏开放的技术获取，减缓了新技术向市场的转移；以及4)目前的技术负担不起。为了应对这些挑战，休斯顿大学将与亚利桑那州立大学合作建立和主办一个多机构产业/大学合作研究中心(IUCRC)，以建立可靠的神经技术进步和创新(Brain)。Brain Center的愿景是一种协同的、跨学科的方法，以开发和验证负担得起的以患者为中心的技术。Brain将利用休斯顿大学和亚利桑那州立大学在神经系统、认知和康复工程、机器人、设备开发、临床测试和反向翻译研究方面的专业知识，1)通过与行业领先者和其他战略合作伙伴的合作伙伴关系，提高新技术的开发速度和经验验证；2)使用从单个神经元到有机体系统的多尺度方法，开发人类和非人类模型的标准和技术；3)表征创新技术，如生物传感器和系统和行为的定量分析工具；4)评估这些技术对生活质量的影响；以及5)降低神经技术的成本。脑中心的使命是多重的：通过将神经技术方面的工程创新转移给最终用户，加速科学进步和促进国民健康；通过扩大新的参与和留住STEM的现有参与者，纠正在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域代表性不足的问题。它还将专注于神经领域的问题，这些问题对代表不足的群体造成了不成比例的影响。Brain将成为西南地区的创新神经技术中心，建立一条从发现到解决方案的管道，同时帮助该地区有才华的学生、科学家和工程师将他们的创新提升到新的水平，并解决我们这个时代最大的未得到满足的医疗和保健需求之一。BRAIN将利用独特的研究人员集中度和创新的研发生态系统与行业合作伙伴来设计、开发、测试和表征能够有效改变残疾人生活的神经技术。该中心将调查所有级别的神经功能，不仅是为了加强当前的技术，也是为了了解神经疾病和损伤的潜在机制。休斯顿大学IUCRC网站-一家服务于拉美裔美国人的机构-将专注于多尺度、多模式和多学科的非侵入性方法，以在复杂的自然环境中了解人类神经功能的所有方面，并采用非侵入性技术治疗人类残疾。休斯顿大学IUCRC网站将带来广泛的专业知识，涵盖认知、情感、神经和康复工程，跨越人类寿命、大数据分析、计算建模、可穿戴电子设备、移动脑体成像设备、干预技术，包括外围设备、脑机接口、智能人机系统、可穿戴机器人、虚拟和增强现实以及其他非侵入性解决方案。

Age-related diseases are increasingly a leading cause of disability. Millions of younger adults live with neurological disorders, limb loss from amputation or paralysis from spinal cord injury. Traumatic brain injury can have lifelong effects on cognitive-motor function, significantly decreasing quality and length of life. There is a critical need for state-of-the art technology to effectively address the care and rehabilitation of these individuals. However, innovation in biomedical devices and other neurotechnologies faces several challenges: 1) The pace of innovation is moving more quickly than the rate of evaluation for acceptable performance; 2) Standards and regulatory science for the rigorous validation of safety, efficacy, and long-term reliability are missing; 3) Lack of open access to technologies that slows the transfer of novel technologies to the market; and 4) Current technologies are not affordable. To address these challenges, the University of Houston will partner with Arizona State University to establish and host a multi-institution Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) for Building Reliable Advances and Innovation in Neurotechnology (BRAIN).The BRAIN Center's vision is a synergistic, interdisciplinary approach to develop and validate affordable patient-centered technologies. BRAIN will leverage expertise in neural systems, cognitive and rehabilitation engineering, robotics, device development, clinical testing and reverse-translational research at the University of Houston and Arizona State University to 1) enhance the rate of development and empirical validation of new technologies through partnerships with industry leaders and other strategic partners; 2) develop standards and technologies in human and non-human models, using a multi-scale approach ranging from single neurons to organismal systems; 3) characterize innovative technologies such as biosensors and quantitative analysis tools for systems and behaviors; 4) evaluate the impact of these technologies on quality of life; and 5) reduce the cost of neurotechnologies. The BRAIN Center's mission is multifold: to accelerate the progress of science and advance national health by transferring engineering innovations in neurotechnology to the end users, and to rectify underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields by broadening new participation and retaining current participants in STEM. It also will focus on problems in the neurological space that affect underrepresented groups disproportionately. BRAIN will become an innovative neurotechnology hub for the Southwest, creating a pipeline from discoveries to solutions while helping talented students, scientists, and engineers in the region take their innovations to the next level and solve one of the greatest unmet medical and health care needs of our time.BRAIN will leverage a unique concentration of researchers and innovative research and development ecosystems with industrial partnerships to design, develop, test, and characterize neural technologies that can effectively transform the lives of disabled individuals. The Center will investigate all levels of neural function to enhance not only current technologies but also understanding of the mechanisms underlying neurological disease and injury. The University of Houston IUCRC Site - a Hispanic-Serving Institution - will focus on multi-scale, multi-modal, and multi-disciplinary and noninvasive approaches to understanding all aspects of human neural function "in action and in context" in complex natural settings, and to deploying noninvasive technologies treating human disability. The University of Houston IUCRC site will bring a broad range of expertise spanning the spectrum of cognitive, affective, neural, and rehabilitation engineering across the human lifespan, big data analytics, computational modeling, wearable electronics, mobile brain-body imaging devices, intervention techniques including peripheral, brain-machine interfaces, smart human-machine systems, wearable robots, virtual and augmented reality and other noninvasive solutions.