Brown neuroscientist elected to AAAS

PROVIDENCE – John P. Donoghue, a Brown University neuroscientist whose pioneering work has led to the development of an interface that links the human brain directly to digital devices such as computers, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Donoghue, the Henry Merritt Wriston Professor and director of the Brown Institute for Brain Science, became the 34th current member of the Brown faculty elected to the academy.
Donoghue has led a team in the development of the BrainGate system, focused on brain-computer interface. The system, now in pilot clinical trials, is a combination of hardware and software that uses tiny implanted electrodes to detect electrical signals produced by neurons in the brain that control movement. The system decodes those signals and translates them into digital instructions to give people with paralysis control of external devices such as computers, robotic assistive devices, or wheelchairs.
The BrainGate team – which consists of scientists, engineers and physicians at Brown, the Providence VA Medical Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital – is also engaged in research aimed at giving people control of advanced prosthetic limbs.
“I am deeply honored to be elected as a fellow of the academy,” said Donoghue. “This is a recognition of spectacular work by a large group of faculty and students in brain science here and at our collaborating institutions and has been made possible by the remarkable interdisciplinary environment at Brown.”