Brandman and his team were recognized for their groundbreaking work in developing a new brain-computer interface (BCI) that translates brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy — the most accurate system of its kind. Their work was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Our team is very honored by this recognition. It means a lot to us that our study was not only selected among the nation’s best published clinical research studies, but it has also won The Herbert Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award!” said Brandman, co-director of the Neuroprosthetics Lab. He is an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Neurological Surgery.
The BCI study’s co-principal investigator is UC Davis Neuroscientist Sergey Stavisky. Stavisky is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery and co-director of the Neuroprosthetics Lab. The study’s lead author is Nicholas Card. He is a postdoctoral scholar at the UC Davis Department of Neurological Surgery.
Neurosurgeon David Brandman and chair of the Clinical Research Forum Harry Selker.
A brain-computer interface that translated brain signals to speech
The new BCI technology is being developed to restore communication for people who can’t speak due to paralysis or neurological conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It can interpret brain signals when the user tries to speak and turns them into text that is “spoken” aloud by the computer.
In July 2023, Brandman implanted sensors in the brain of a man with severely impaired speech due to ALS. The man was able to communicate his intended speech within minutes of activating the system.
“Our work demonstrates the most accurate speech neuroprosthesis (device) ever reported. The technology is transformative because it provides hope for people who want to speak but can’t. I hope that technology like this speech BCI will help future patients speak with their family and friends,” Brandman said.
Postdoctoral scholar Nicholas Card prepares the BCI system.
The Herbert Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award
The Herbert Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award is named in honor of CR Forum Board Vice Chair Herbert Pardes for his profound impact on clinical research and academic medicine. It is awarded to the research study that best shows a high degree of innovation and creativity, advances science, and has an impact upon human disease.
“This study is spectacular, in that not only can this man communicate with his family and maintain his livelihood, but he is actually able to speak using recordings of his own voice ,” said Harry P. Selker, chair of the Clinical Research Forum and dean of Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Tufts University.
UC Davis Health Vice Dean for Research Kim E. Barrett nominated Brandman for this award.
"The work done by Dr. Brandman and his team, including his research partner Sergey Stavisky, has been nothing short of remarkable. The technologies they have developed offer real hope to change the lives of those who have been robbed of their power to speak intelligibly by diseases such as ALS,” said Barrett, distinguished professor of physiology and membrane biology at UC Davis.
