معرفی
John Simeral is an Assistant Professor of Engineering (Research) at Brown University's School of Engineering, affiliated with the VA Rehabilitation R&D Service and the VA Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology. His research focuses on neural prosthetics and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to restore communication and mobility for individuals with paralysis. He leads development of the BrainGate system, a clinical neural interface enabling control of computers, prosthetics, and assistive devices via intracortical signals.
Education: PhD in Neuroscience from Wake Forest University (2003), MS in Electrical Engineering from University of Texas (1989), BS from Stanford University (1985). Postdoctoral training at Brown University under John Donoghue (2003-2006).
Research Interests: Integrating neuroscience and engineering to create neural prosthetics. Specializes in real-time neural signal processing, embedded systems for BCI, and clinical translation of assistive technologies. His work addresses challenges in signal stability, decoder longevity, and home-use BCI systems.
Grants & Awards:
- VA Merit Review Award (2018-2022) for mobile BCI deployment
- NIH-NIDCD grants for communication prostheses (2020-2025)
- Sean M. Healey Prize (2024) for ALS innovation
- BCI Society Award (2018) for neurally-controlled robotics
Teaching: Courses include ENGN 0020 (Transforming Society through Technology), Neuroengineering, and Neuroanatomy for medical students. Previously taught microelectronics and ECE design.
Labs & Collaborations: Leads the Restoring Communication and Mobility focus area at the VA Center. Collaborates with BrainGate team (Hochberg, Donoghue, Nurmikko). Active in VA and NIH-funded clinical trials.
