HIGH PERFORMING ALGORITHM TO TRANSLATE PARALYZED PATIENTS' THOUGHTS INTO REAL-TIME PROSTHETIC MOVEMENTS

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackrock Neurotech, the leader in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, has signed an exclusive license for Columbia University's neural decoder MINT. The license comes on the heels of Blackrock's recent announcement to commercialize its MoveAgain platform, an implantable brain-computer interface that restores function in patients impaired by spinal cord injuries and disabilities caused by ALS and paralysis. MINT, which recently demonstrated exemplary performance in the EvalAI competition, will be integrated into the MoveAgain software, enabling patients' thoughts to be translated more optimally into prosthetic movements.

Unlike most other neural decoding algorithms, MINT's predictive models require almost no tradeoff between performance and training time, as they are trained in under a minute. Following training, a patient with electrodes implanted in their brain imagines movement. The electrodes read the electrical firing patterns of their neurons and send the signals back through the MINT algorithm to translate the thoughts into precise movements for prosthetics, cursors, wheelchairs, vehicles and other external devices. The results are highly accurate, as seen in this video.

"An advantage of MINT is the effortless and accurate translation of neural state to behavior," said Mark Churchland, principal investigator at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute, Associate Professor in Columbia's Department of Neuroscience and Co-Director of the Grossman Center for the Statistics of Mind. "Once you know the state, you know the behavior."

For purposes of clinical translation, an advantage of MINT is that it can be trained on relatively little data and in very little time — so it can be up and running quickly. Furthermore, the algorithm is highly economical, with the ability to run on minimal computational power and simple hardware. Finally, its performance enables real-time decoding and translating of movements that mimic the speed of an able-bodied person.

"An important function of our MoveAgain interface is the ability to generate precise movement from neural data — and MINT enables this extremely quickly, " said Marcus Gerhardt, CEO of Blackrock Neurotech. "MINT is a high-performance algorithm that is both simple and accurate. When integrated into our system, it will enable incredibly powerful thought-to-prosthetic performance for our patients."

Blackrock has exclusively licensed the MINT algorithm, which was initially developed with Blackrock's neural recording technology. Blackrock plans to release the software with its MoveAgain platform in the fall of 2022.

"The main impetus behind MINT was to improve BCI decoding with the goal of benefiting a wide range of patients with different needs. The better BCIs get, the larger the relevant patient population will be," said Churchland. "Blackrock has a long history of successful involvement in both BCI and basic science research, and has great relationships with leaders in this space, making it the ideal commercialization partner for MINT."

About MINT - Mesh of Idealized Neural Trajectories
The MINT algorithm was designed to be an extremely accurate, robust and easy-to-use online decoder. The official implementation of MINT includes a neural state estimator and behavioral decode algorithm developed in the Churchland lab at Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute.  MINT leverages sparsity and stereotypy in neural activity to estimate the neural state probabilistically and read out behavior nonlinearly. The algorithm achieves high performance, yet remains computationally efficient and is straightforward to train.

About Blackrock Neurotech
Blackrock Neurotech, formerly known as Blackrock Microsystems, is dedicated to the clinical translation of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. Blackrock, founded in 2008, is the world's leading platform company for BCI technology and the development of implantable solutions that improve human lives. Blackrock's precision electrode technology is at the core of many worldwide innovations in BCI, enabling dozens of early users (known as "BCI Pioneers") to SeeAgain, HearAgain, MoveAgain and more. For more information, visit www.blackrockneurotech.com. 

Press Contact:
Karen Blondell
LSPR/M for Blackrock Neurotech
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SOURCE Blackrock Neurotech