Tomislav Milekovic

Mission Develop and advance brain-computer interfaces - devices that allow people with paralysis to control computers, robotic hands or their own paralyzed muscles directly by their brain activity - for the purpose of helping people with paralysis regain their lost abilities. I obtained my dipl. ing. degree in Physics (equivalent to MSc in Physiscs) from the Faculty of Science of the Zagreb University in July 2006. During my undergraduate studies, I was awarded the Best Student award of the Department of Physics and scholarships of the Croatian Ministry of Science and the city of Zagreb.I started my PhD studies at the University of Freiburg, under the supervision of Dr. Carsten Mehring. In close collaboration with the Neurology department of the Freiburg University Hospital, I worked on design and development of brain-computer interfaces, devices that allow people to control computers, robotic limbs or their own paralyzed limbs through electrical stimulation, by their brain activity. I focused on development of brain-computer interfaces based on recordings of cortical surface potentials (electrocorticography, ECoG). I investigated ECoG preceding, during and following a range of hand movements of people. I identified three different components of neural signals that carry movement-related information and, based on these findings, I devised optimization algorithms that selected optimal frequency bands and filters for brain-computer interfaces. I used this approach to develop and test the world-first ECoG-based brain-computer interface that allowed people to control a computer cursor using movements of a single limb. In addition, I investigated error neural signals, neural activity that follows movement or goal errors and used the findings to devise an algorithm that could detect error neural activity in real time and potentially use it to improve performance of brain-computer interfaces. During the last year of my PhD studies, I moved to the prestigious Imperial College London, where I graduated in April 2012.From 2012 to 2014, I joined the Laboratory for Restorative Neurotechnology, led by Profs. Leigh Hochberg and John Donoghue. I worked with BrainGate2 clinical trial participants, which are people with tetraplegia or locked-in syndrome, that are using bran-computer interfaces to regain the ability to movements or communicate. I investigated how local field potentials can be used to achieve brain-computer interfaces, potentially with higher reliability and stability of decoding, thus providing higher degree of independence to its users. I developed novel algorithms and approaches and used them to achieve a brain-computer interface that allowed people with tetraplegia and locked-in syndrome to control a communication interface for up to four and a half months. In another study, I demonstrated that people with tetraplegia can gain and improve volitional control of their neural signals.Since May 2014, I am at the research group of Prof. Gregoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). I work on developing brain-spine interface therapies, where spinal cord is stimulated based on brain activity, in order to alleviate gait deficits resulting from a range of neural disorder. I recently led a team that designed, developed and implemented a brain-spine interface system in which electrical spinal cord stimulation protocols are triggered by the motor states decoded from cortical neuronal activity of macaque monkeys. We demonstrated that this brain-spine interface restored walking in two macaque monkeys with spinal cord injuries. I am also a part of the team that obtained all the regulatory approvals for the STIMO clinical trial that will test the effectiveness of a spinal cord stimulation approach to alleviate gait deficits in people with paraplegia.I continues to develop and enhance potential therapies based on brain-computer and brain-spine interface to be able to restore a wide variety of skilled and complex movements to people with paralysis. Education Doctor of Philosophy | Neuroscience 2012 – 2012 Imperial College London Directed by Prof. Carsten Mehring Dipl. ing. Physics (equivalent to MSc in Physics) | Physics 2006 – 2006 University of Zagreb Directed by Prof. Kreso Zadro