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系统疾病、截肢导致的肢体丧失或脊髓损伤导致的瘫痪。创伤性脑损伤可对认知运动功能产生终身影响，显著降低生活质量和寿命。迫切需要最先进的技术来有效地处理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快得多；2)缺乏安全性、有效性和长期可靠性严格验证的标准和监管科学；3)缺乏对技术的开放获取，减缓了新技术向市场的转移；4)目前的技术是负担不起的。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，建立并主办一个多机构的工业/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）。脑中心的愿景是一个协同的，跨学科的方法来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、临床测试和逆向转化研究方面的专业知识，1)通过与行业领导者和其他战略合作伙伴的合作，提高新技术的开发速度和经验验证；2)利用从单个神经元到组织系统的多尺度方法，开发人类和非人类模型的标准和技术；3)描述创新技术，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；5)降低神经技术的成本。大脑中心的使命是多重的：通过将神经技术的工程创新转移给最终用户来加速科学的进步和促进国民健康，并通过扩大新的参与和保留现有的STEM参与者来纠正科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的代表性不足。它还将关注神经学领域的问题，这些问题不成比例地影响着未被充分代表的群体。BRAIN将成为西南地区创新的神经技术中心，创建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一个新的水平，解决我们这个时代最大的未满足的医疗和卫生保健需求之一。BRAIN将利用独特的研究人员和创新的研发生态系统，与工业合作伙伴一起设计、开发、测试和表征能够有效改变残疾人生活的神经技术。该中心将研究神经功能的各个层面，不仅提高现有技术，而且提高对神经系统疾病和损伤机制的理解。休斯顿大学世界自然保护委员会网站是一个西班牙裔服务机构，将专注于多尺度、多模式、多学科和非侵入性方法，以了解复杂自然环境中“行动和环境”中人类神经功能的各个方面，并部署非侵入性技术治疗人类残疾。休斯顿大学世界自然保护委员会网站将带来广泛的专业知识，涵盖人类生命周期的认知、情感、神经和康复工程、大数据分析、计算建模、可穿戴电子产品、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.