Program Summary
The Reorganization and Plasticity to Accelerate Injury Recovery (REPAIR) program aims to uncover the mechanisms underlying neural computation and reorganization to improve modeling of the brain and our ability to interface with it.
Current models of the brain based on invasive measurements are region specific and compartmentalized, while noninvasive measurements are used to build descriptive models of how the brain behaves with low degrees of specificity. New approaches to multiregion, multiscale recording present an opportunity to determine the sequencing of neural signaling from initial cues through task completion, and correlate these neuron-level signals to changes in brain activity. These approaches could lead to new classes of devices that rehabilitate individuals following brain injury, restore impaired sensory function, and manipulate external systems, such as robotic arms, at much faster rates than conventional interfaces.
REPAIR will create a new neuroscience community, bringing together previously separate but complementary approaches to solve old problems and address new ones. The program will also improve our ability to treat and restore the injured brain through development of neural interfaces and compensatory strategies derived from brain models.