Building Better Brains: Neural Prosthetics and Beyond

Building Better Brains: Neural Prosthetics and Beyond
September 23 - 25, 2010
Aspen, Colorado

Presented by the New York Academy of Sciences and The Aspen Brain Forum Foundation

The use of neural prosthetics to replace motor, sensory, or cognitive functions lost by disease or injury holds great therapeutic promise. However, neural prosthetics have not yet been widely used in humans. This meeting will highlight the most cutting-edge developments in the field of neural prosthetics and a will include a careful review of the current obstacles to using neural prosthetics therapeutically, as well as the related ethical and regulatory issues.  The conference agenda will address the following issues:

• Presentation of the most recent advances in basic neurobiological research to inform development of neural prosthetics
• An overview of cutting-edge discoveries in bioengineering and materials that will allow for the development of neural prosthetic devices that function effectively within the human body
• Discussion of how to improve upon the clinical trial results on neural prosthetics
• The unique regulatory and ethical problems that are associated with using neural prosthetics in people
• How to use neural prosthetics to treat disorders including not only neurodegenerative diseases and paralysis, but also depression and epilepsy

Registration and the full conference agenda can be found at www.nyas.org/betterbrains.