Neural control of speech generation in human motor cortex

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Project Summary/Abstract Dr. Rubin is a neurointensivist and computational neuroscientist working at Massachusetts General Hospital whose goal is to become an independent physician investigator with expertise in the development of novel neurotechnologies to improve the lives of people living with the symptoms of disabling neurologic disease and injury. His career development plan leverages the resources of a world-class training environment and brings together experts in neural decoding, systems and circuit neuroscience, and neural engineering in proposing a cutting-edge approach to the study of the neural basis of speech generation to enable the next generation of high-performance intracortical brain computer interfaces (iBCI) for communication. Under the mentorship of Drs. Leigh Hochberg and Sydney Cash and with the guidance of scientific advisors Drs. Emery Brown, Jaimie Henderson, and Kristina Simonyan, Dr. Rubin proposes to (1) determine the features of the neural code in motor cortex specific to the production of individual spoken words, (2) characterize the influence of semantic and non-semantic context on the neural representation of intended speech, and (3) identify the operations translating neural representations of language in association cortex into the patterns of neural activity in motor cortex that coordinate the production of speech. Each of these aims will require the development and application of novel computational tools, bringing together recent advancements in fields of single unit and circuit-level neurophysiology, systems and computational neuroscience, machine learning, and natural language processing. The overall goal of this project is to elucidate key features of the neurophysiologic basis of speech production to enable the development of near-fluent restoration of communication through the implementation of an iBCI able to decode in real time a user’s intended or attempted speech. In doing so, this work is poised to transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of people living deficits in communication due to neurologic injury or disease. By harnessing the state-of-the-art approaches in human intracranial recording developed by the BrainGate research consortium, and with his team of mentors and advisors with a diverse array of relevant expertise, this project will also generate new insights into the neurophysiologic basis of a uniquely human behavior, representing a potentially major neuroscientific advancement. In the long term, Dr. Rubin’s career goal is to develop novel neurotechnology aimed alleviating the symptoms of and augmenting recovery from neurologic disease. The proposed patient-oriented research project, in concert with world-class mentorship and a thoughtful structured didactic curriculum, will provide Dr. Rubin with the skills that are essential for him to develop an independent career in translational neurotechnology research.