SAN DIEGO, Calif., May 15, 2017 — By applying a novel computer algorithm to mimic how the brain learns, a team of researchers – with the aid of the Comet supercomputer based at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego and the Center’s Neuroscience Gateway – has identified and replicated neural circuitry that resembles the way an unimpaired brain controls limb movement.
The research, published in the March-May 2017 issue of the IBM Journal of Research and Development, lays the groundwork to develop realistic “biomimetic neuroprosthetics” — brain implants that replicate brain circuits and their function — that one day could replace lost or damaged brain cells or tissue from tumors, stroke, or other diseases.
“In patients with motor paralysis, the biomimetic neuroprosthetic could be used to replace the deteriorated motor cortex where it could interact directly with healthy brain pre-motor regions, and send commands and receive feedback via the spinal cord to a prosthetic arm,” said W.W. Lytton, a professor of physiology and pharmacology at State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the study’s principal investigator.
This scenario, portrayed in the IBM paper titled “Evolutionary algorithm optimization of biological learning parameters in a biomimetic neuroprosthesis”, required high-performance computing and expertise to simulate and evaluate potential computer models in an automated way, along with the Neuroscience Gateway (NSG) based at SDSC, which provided an entrance to these resources.
“The increasing complexity of the virtual arm, which included many realistic biomechanical processes, and the more challenging dynamics of the neural system, called for more sophisticated methods and highly parallel computing in a system such as Comet to tackle thousands of model possibilities,” said Amit Majumdar, director of the Data Enabled Scientific Computing division at SDSC, principal investigator of the NSG, and co-author of the IBM Journal paper.
“Combining these computational advantages can be an effective approach to build even more realistic biomimetic neuroprostheses for future clinical applications,” he added.
Read the full release at: http://www.sdsc.edu/News%20Items/PR20170510_neuroprosthesis.html
Source: SDSC