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  • October 10, 2018

    NEBIAS researchers obtained the cover @NeuroCellPress for a paper on biomimetic sensory feedback in a bidirectional hand prosthesis.

    Valle G, Mazzoni A, Iberite F, D'Anna E, Strauss I, Granata G, Controzzi M, Clemente F, Rognini G, Cipriani C, Stieglitz T, Petrini FM, Rossini PM, Micera S. Biomimetic Intraneural Sensory Feedback Enhances Sensation Naturalness, Tactile Sensitivity, and Manual Dexterity in a Bidirectional Prosthesis. Neuron. 2018 Sep 14. pii: S0896-6273(18)30738-4.
    doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.08.033

  • March 16, 2018

    The most advanced artificial limb, a hand prosthesis that can be controlled by a human brain, making the limb to be felt as a natural one, was applied on a woman from Rome in June 2016 for testing. It was the first ever long term application of such a solution successfully completed bringing hope to those who suffered a traumatic amputation.

    https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/successful-long-term-...

  • January 3, 2018

    NEBIAS Scientists in Rome have unveiled the first bionic hand with a sense of touch that can be worn outside a laboratory.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/health-42430895

     

  • November 14-15, 2017

    Members of the NEBIAS consortium will present results from the project at the 47th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN 2017). The Conference takes place on November 11-15, 2017 in Washington DC, USA.

    Accepted contributions:

    • (769.03) Simultaneous tactile and proprioceptive feedback in myo-controlled hand prostheses using intraneural electrical stimulation. D'Anna E, Valle G, Strauss I, Patton J, Petrini FM, Raspopovic S, Granata G, Di Iorio R, Stieglitz T, Rossini PM, Micera S.
    • (499.05) A comparison between encoding strategies for restoring sensory feedback in a bidirectional hand prosthesis. Valle G, Strauss I, Petrini FM, Granata G, Di Iorio R, Cvancara P, Muller M, Barbaro M, Raffo L, Stieglitz T, Raspopovic S, , Rossini PM, Micera S.
  • October 2017

    In 1896, Giuliano Vanghetti conceived the idea of connecting the control mechanism of prosthesis directly to a muscle. A new study by the researchers of Sant’Anna School Biorobotics Institute, published today in Neurology, the most cited and peer-reviewed neurology journal of the “American Academy of Neurology”, analyzed the cineplastic procedures began in 1898 by Vanghetti as a pioneer in neuroprosthetics (Tropea P, Mazzoni A, Micera S, Corbo M. Giuliano Vanghetti and the innovation of "cineplastic operations". Neurology. 2017 Oct 10;89(15):1627-1632. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000004488).

    The study, developed by bioengineers and neurologists who investigated archival and manuscript materials of “Fondo Vanghetti” held at the library “Renato Fucini” in Empoli (Florence), could have implications for scientists who are currently investigating natural neural signals and neural stimulation technique to produce sensations. Devices and techniques developed by Giuliano Vanghetti (a physician who lived in Empoli, Tuscany), based on methods for cinematic amputations, have materially changed the practice of prosthetic applications.

    Bioengineers and neurologists of Sant’Anna School Biorobotics Institute, Casa di Cura del Policlinico di Milano and EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) currently researching new techniques in prosthesis technology, presented an account of physician and surgeon, Vanghetti and Ceci, who have distinguished themselves in the application of kinematic prostheses of the upper extremity, trying to enable amputees to use their muscles to power the prosthesis (creating a skin flap and forming a skin-lined tunnel under a muscle that remains above an amputated limb).

    The path to developing this technology began when Vanghetti (born in 1861 near Florence) observed that soldiers of the 1896 Adwa campaign with amputated hands still had intact forearm muscles. The battle of Adwa cost many lives: Italian soldiers and Askari (native troops from Eritrea) fell into the hands of the Ethiopian troops. About 800 prisoners were subjected to the traditional punishment for disloyalty by having their right hands and left feet amputated. Vanghetti had the idea of utilizing the forearm muscles as a force of movement for prosthesis; the first operation was performed by Professor Ceci in Pisa Hospital in 1900 since the Italian government provided limbs for military personnel who received amputations. Exchange of ideas and of studies gave Vanghetti and Ceci the opportunity to increase the impact of their research (first tests were performed using chickens) but the scientific community expressed doubts about Vanghetti’s method and preferred the tunnel cineplasty developed by German surgeons in the early 1900s.

    Although tunnel cineplasty fell out of favor, Dr. Vanghetti’s work received worldwide recognition and honors (from Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Croce Rossa Italiana and the nomination to the Nobel Prize in 1923).

    “Giuliano Vanghetti’s life and work – note the researchers who wrote the study published in ‘Neurology’ journal – remain important in the contemporary research program in prosthetics. He was a gifted physician and a true visionary and today he finally gets the recognition he deserved”.

     

    https://actu.epfl.ch/news/historical-work-of-vanghetti-inspires-today-s-...

    https://www.santannapisa.it/en/news/researchers-santanna-school-biorobot...

  • October 19-21, 2017

    Members of the NEBIAS consortium presented results from the project at the 13th IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS). The Conference took place on October 19-21, 2017 in Torino, Italy.

    Accepted contribution:
    Carboni C, Bisoni L, Puddu R, Barabino G, Pani D, Raffo L, Barbaro M. Earnest: a 64 Channel Device for Neural Recording and Sensory Touch Restoration in Neural Prosthetics.

  • September 7-9, 2017

    Members of the NEBIAS consortium will present results from the project at the First New Generation of Circuits and Systems Conference (NGCAS). The Conference takes place on September 7-9, 2017 in Genova Italy.

    Accepted contribution:

    Carboni C, Bisoni L, Puddu R, Raffo L, Barbaro M. A Novel Embedded System for Direct, Programmable Stimulation of the Peripheral Neural System 2017 New Generation of CAS (NGCAS), Genova, 2017, pp. 189-192.

  • July 17-20, 2017

    Members of the NEBIAS consortium will present results from the project at the Rehab Week - 15th IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR 2017). The Conference takes place on July 17-20, 2017 in London UK.

    Accepted contribution:

    Montagnani F, Smit G, Controzzi M, Cipriani C, Plettenburg DH. A passive wrist with switchable stiffness for a body-powered hydraulically actuated hand prosthesis.

  • July 11-15, 2017

    Members of the NEBIAS consortium will present results from the project at the 39th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 17). The Conference takes place on July 11-15, 2017 in Jeju Island, Korea.

    Accepted contribution:

    • Bisoni L, Carboni C, Puddu R, Barabino G, Pani D, Raffo L, Mueller M, Stieglitz T, del Valle J, de la Oliva N, Delgado-Martínez I, Navarro X, Barbaro M. A 64-channels neural interface for biopotentials recording and PNS stimulation.
    • Barabino G, Baldazzi G, Sulas E, Carboni C, Raffo L, Pani D. Comparative evaluation of different wavelet thresholding methods for neural signal processing.
  • December 1-2, 2016

    Workshop on Tactile Coding and Neuroprostheses
    Neurophysiology of touch and development of artificial tactile sensation are two fields of research with an ever-increasing interchange. Advanced neuroprostheses are progressively focusing on reproducing the naturalistic processing of tactile sensations in the peripheral and central nervous system. In turn, biomimetic tactile sensors and behavioral studies on patients implanted with tactile neuroprostheses can contribute to the understanding of tactile coding. This workshop aims at fostering the integration of neurophysiological, computational, haptic and biorobotic studies on touch with contributions by leading experts in these fields.

    The workshop takes place on the premises of The Biorobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, in Pontedera (15 mins by train from Pisa, 50 mins from Florence).
    The event is free, but registration is compulsory.
    To register, please write to local organizer Alberto Mazzoni (a.mazzoni@santannapisa.it).

    Read full event.

  • November 12, 2016

    Members of the NEBIAS consortium will present results from the project at the 46th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). The Conference takes place on November 12-16, 2016 in San Diego, USA.

    Accepted contributions:

    • Micera S. On the use of intraneural transversal thin-film electrodes to develop bidirectional bionic limbs;
    • Buil JM, Scherberger H. Investigation of peripheral nervous system interfaces for motor decoding and somatosensory stimulation;
    • Raspopovic S, Petrini F, D'Anna G, Strauss I, Granata G, Di Iorio R, Guiraud D, Stieglitz, Micera S. Intraneural implants enable long-term bidirectional control of hand prostheses.

     

  • September 8, 2016

    The coordinator of the NEBIAS Project will present results from the project at the 2nd International Forum on Research and Technologies for Society and Industry (RTSI 2016, https://apice.unibo.it/xwiki/bin/view/RTSI2016/WebHome).
    The event takes place on September 7-9, 2016 in Bologna (Italy).

    September 8, 2016
    Invited talk: Session "Computational Intelligence Applications in Health and Smart Cities"
    Silvestro Micera: "The quest for a bionic hand: recent achievements and future perspectives"

  • August 1, 2016

    Members of the NEBIAS consortium will present results from the project at the 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2016). The Conference takes place on August 17-20, 2016 in Orlando FL, USA.

    Accepted contributions:

    • Micera S. The Quest for a Bionic Hand: Recent Achievements and Future Perspectives
    • Mueller M, Boehler C, Jager J, Asplund M, Stieglitz T. A Double-Sided Fabrication Process for Intrafascicular Parylene C Based Electrode Arrays
    • Bisoni L, Mueller M, Cvancara P, Carboni C, Puddu R, Raffo L, Barbaro M, Stieglitz T. Investigation on the Hermeticity of an Implantable Package with 32 Feedthroughs for Neural Prosthetic Applications

     

  • March 8, 2016

    Published in March 8, 2016, an amputee feels textures using an artificial fingertip connected to nerves in the arm thanks to researchers from NEBIAS. Read more.

    Newsweek Europe: Bionic Fingertip lets Amputee Feel Texture for first Time

    Amputee Feels Texture with a Bionic Fingertip

    YouTube Video

  • January 23, 2016

    Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna is organizing an exposition about the frontiers of biorobotics entitled:
    "NEXUS - man-machine interactions in fiction, technology and contemporary science" that will feature NEBIAS results in a prominent role (http://exhibits.museogalileo.it/nexus/index.html).

    The exposition will open the January 23rd 2016 and close March 15th 2016 and will be held in the prestigious Medici's palace Palazzo Medici Riccardi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Medici_Riccardi), right in the historical center of Florence.

    The project of the exposition was funded by the Italian Minister of Instruction, University and Research and is in collaboration with the University of Siena and the Galileo Museum of Florence.

     

  • October 7-8, 2015

    A member of the NEBIAS consortium will present results from the project at Symbiotic 2015 International Workshop on Symbiotic Interaction (http://symbiotic2015.org).

    The Workshop takes place on October 7-8, 2015 in Berlin (Germany)

     

  • October 3, 2015

    NEBIAS consortium will present results from the project at the 15th European Congress on Clinical Neuro­physiology (ECCN 2015, http://www.eccn2015.eu/).

    The Congress takes place from September 30 – October 3, 2015 in Brno, Czech Republic.

    Saturday, October 3, 2015
    Plenary lecture V: Neurophysiology of artificial limbs (Chairs: P. Rossini, R. Jech)
    S. Raspopovic: From artificial fingers to the nervous system of amputees: restoration of sensory feedback

  • September 12-15, 2015

    NEBIAS consortium presents results from the project at the 17th International Symposium on Robotics Researc (ISRR 2015, http://www.isrr-2015.org/index.php

    The Congress takes place from 12-15 September 2015, in Sestri Levante (Genova), Italy.

    Accepted contribution:
    Rongala U, Mazzoni A, Camboni D, Carrozza MC, Oddo C
    Neuromorphic artificial sense of touch: bridging robotics and neuroscience

  • July 18, 2015

    Members of the NEBIAS consortium will present results from the project at the 24th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS 2015). The Conference takes place on July 18-23, 2015 in Prague (Czech Republic).

    Accepted contributions:

    • Mazzoni A, Petrini F, Rigosa J, Capogrosso M, Raspopovic S, Micera S. How central inputs and force and velocity feedbacks determine motoneurons activity during voluntary hand movements.
    • Mazzoni A, Bhaskar UR, Oddo C. Decoding of naturalistic textures from spike patterns of neuromorphic artificial mechanoreceptors.

     

  • April 22, 2015

    Members of the NEBIAS consortium will participate and present results from the project at the 7th International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER 2015). The Conference takes place on April 22-24, 2015 in Montpellier (France).

    Accepted contributions:

    del Valle J, de la Oliva N, Müller M, Stieglitz T, Navarro X. Biocompatibility evaluation of parylene C and polyimide as substrates for peripheral nerve interfaces.

    Matthias M, Ulloa Suarez MA, Schuettler M, Stieglitz T. Development of a Single-Sided Parylene C Based Intrafascicular Multichannel Electrode for Peripheral Nerves.

  • January 16, 2015

    Discover Magazine dedicates the Jan/Feb 2015 issue to the 100 top stories of 2014 with the best in science from the past year. At #40, the first results of NEBIAS project are presented.

  • January 15, 2015

    medGadget, an independent journal of the latest medical gadgets, technologies and discoveries, considered NEBIAS as one of the best medical technologies of 2014.

  • November 5, 2014

    A very interesting article dedicated to NEBIAS project, " NEBIAS: The world’s most advanced bionic hand", has been published on two European Commission's portals, the Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) and the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE).

    Pdf version of the article

  • November 3, 2014
  • October 16, 2014

    NEBIAS coordinator, Silvestro Micera, has been invited to the 1st Clustering Workshop on Future Emerging NeuroTechnologies (BRAIN-FETs 2014). The event takes place at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genova, Italy.

    www.brainfet.eu

  • September 15, 2014

    NEBIAS is invited at the EU BCI Day, an event organized in the framework of the 6th International Brain-Computer Interface Conference. This conference will be held from September 16-19, 2014 at the Graz University of Technology, Austria.

    http://bci.tugraz.at/graz-bci-conference

  • September 11, 2014

    NEBIAS participates at the 2014 International Workshop on Wearable Robotics (WeRob) with a presentation ("Restoring the sensory feedback into the bidirectional prosthetic control") and a demonstration ("Bidirectional hand prosthesis that restores the feelings to user").

    WeRob 2014 takes place in Spain from September 14-19, 2014 and it is organised by CSIC, the University of Houston, the ITESM and the University of Twente.

    http://www.werob2014.org

  • April 17, 2014

    "Paris Match", one of the most important weekly magazine published in France, has dedicated an article to Silvestro Micera, Professor and Director of the Translational Neural Engineering Laboratory at the Biorobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa, Italy).
    In the interview, Silvestro Micera, the coordinator of NEBIAS Project, explains the objectives of the project and the benefits that a bionic hand can give to amputees.

  • March 19, 2014

    The NEBIAS project is at the 30th International Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology (ICCN) of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN).

    The ICCN2014 takes place in Berlin from March 20–23, 2014 and it is organized in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the German Society for Clinical Neurophysiology and Functional Imaging (DGKN) scheduled from March 19–22, 2014.

    http://www.iccn2014.de

     

  • February 5, 2014

    Amputee Feels in Real-Time with Bionic Hand thanks to researchers from NEBIAS.

    Published in the February 5, 2014 issue of Science Translational Medicine, the results show that Dennis Aabo Sørensen is the first amputee in the world to feel sensory rich information – in realtime – with a prosthetic hand wired to nerves in his upper arm. Sørensen could grasp objects intuitively and identify what he was touching while blindfolded.

     

    BBC - BBC News Bionic hand allows patient to 'feel'

    CNN International - CNN Newsroom Artificial hand lets amputee feel objects

    Press review and additional videos are available in the Press and Publications section.

     

    Science Translational Medicine:
    Raspopovic S, Capogrosso M, Petrini FM, Bonizzato M, Rigosa J, Di Pino G, Carpaneto J, Controzzi M, Boretius T, Fernandez E, Granata G, Oddo CM, Citi L, Ciancio AL, Cipriani C, Carrozza MC, Jensen W, Guglielmelli E, Stieglitz T, Rossini PM, Micera S, 2014. Restoring Natural Sensory Feedback in Real-Time Bidirectional Hand Prostheses. Sci Transl Med 5 February 2014: 6(222):222ra19
    doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3006820

     

    Photograph copyright: EPFL Media - Hillary Sanctuary

  • December 11-12, 2013

    The kick-off Meeting took place at 11th and 12th of December 2013 at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa.

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