Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine - A Historical Perspective

The UC Davis Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine entered its second year with exciting new research, educational opportunities, and a vibrant community on campus. While formally established as a Center in October 2020, foundational work started years ago, initiated by a small group of faculty and administration led by Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering professor Sanjay Joshi. As a scientist and researcher, professor Joshi studies the interface of biosignals and computers/ machines/ robots, primarily targeted at aiding people with physical disabilities. He realized that UC Davis had tremendous potential to apply engineering principles to neuroscience to advance fundamental knowledge and develop tools and methods for studying and addressing neurological disorders, from lab-bench to clinical application. Most importantly, UC Davis is one of the few truly comprehensive universities globally that can boast vital engineering programs, large medical schools in both human and veterinary medicine, and world-class programs in multiple areas of neuroscience. Thus, the UC Davis Neuroengineering and Medicine Initiative was formed.

In response to the 2014 UC Davis Provost’s Initiative called the Faculty Hiring and Investment Program (HIP), professor Joshi and a small team led a successful proposal to recruit new neuroengineering faculty. The HIP program awarded funding to support faculty hiring that either transcend the traditional boundaries between UC Davis colleges, schools, and departments or extend their range into critical new areas. Recruiting new neuroengineering faculty achieved both goals. Professors Karen Moxon (leader in brain-computer interfaces), Jonathon Schofield (assistive robotics, rehabilitation engineering, neural-integrated prosthetic limbs), and Wilsaan Joiner (motor learning, integration of sensory and motor signals, motor adaptation) were recruited as HIP faculty to join an already strong group of UC Davis faculty. Professor Karen Moxon later became one of the founding Co-Directors of the Center.

As envisioned by campus leadership, the HIP hires led to coordination with more traditional faculty hires and other HIP searches that complemented our focus areas of Neuroengineering and Medicine. To name a few, three other faculty were hired in the College of Engineering whose work includes neuroengineering: professors Weijian Yang (advanced optical methods to integrate and modulate brain activity), Jiandi Wan (cerebral micro-circulation, organ-on-a-chip, and microfluidics), and Randy O’Reilly (computational cognitive neuroscience, joint appointment with the College of Letters and Science). Neuroengineering-related hires also included professors Carolynn Patten (assessment and treatment of motor dysfunction associated with aging and adult neuropathologies) and Ignacio Saez (neurophysiological basis of human cognition) in the School of Medicine. Professor Carolynn Patten also later became one of the founding Co-Directors of the Center. As of December 2021, the Center includes 36 affiliated faculty from across campus.

Among the many activities under the Neuroengineering Initiative umbrella, in 2017, the UC Davis College of Engineering hosted engineers from the United States and the European Union for the National Academy of Engineering’s 2017 EU-US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, where professor Joshi co-chaired the neuroengineering technical session as a UC Davis Office of Research Faculty Fellow. This led in October 2018 to a campus-wide Interdisciplinary Research Catalyst event focused on neuroengineering, hosted by the UC Davis Office of Research Strategic Initiatives Group under the leadership of AVC Paul Dodd, entitled “Neuroengineering at UC Davis: Energizing Collaboration for National Leadership in Science & Translational Research.” Vice-Chancellor of Research professor Prasant Mohapatra and Columbia University professor Paul Sajda were a few of the featured speakers. Faculty and staff from over 25 departments all over campus registered for the event, showing the enthusiasm for Neuroengineering and Medicine on campus.

These events gave the effort tremendous momentum. With it, an official Initiative Steering Committee was launched towards forming an eventual Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine, led by Professors Joshi, Moxon, and Patten. Gabriela Lee joined the Initiative as Program Manager around the same time, working with the co-directors and the Steering Committee to achieve the Initiative’s mission and vision. The goal of the Neuroengineering Initiative was to serve as an interdisciplinary programmatic hub that can foster new ideas, conduct groundbreaking translational science, train a new generation of researchers, and ultimately lead to clinically proven, novel medical devices/methods/therapies for many neurologically-related conditions.

Faculty affiliated with the Initiative successfully submitted multiple interdisciplinary grant proposals, with participation across various colleges and schools, including the College of Engineering, School of Medicine, College of Biological Sciences, and the College of Letters and Science. The Initiative faculty had started a monthly seminar series in Neuroengineering & Medicine in Fall 2018, which continues to this day. Under the leadership of the co-directors and Steering Committee, the faculty established four research thrusts. They developed a roadmap and a set of deliverables, further refined in the Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine proposal. Under the leadership of Dean Jennifer Sinclair Curtis, the College of Engineering approved the proposal in July 2020 and the new center was formally launched on October 1st, 2020.

The successful formation of the Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine resulted from the combined efforts by many faculty, administration, staff, researchers, students, and community members. The Center’s mission is to promote neurological health and extend human capacity to benefit society, through discovery and translation of systems that interface with the brain and the body. In the long term, we envision the UC Davis Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine will become a premier neuroengineering institution whose members lead research that restores and extends human capacity, educates tomorrow’s workforce, and collaborates with industry, foundations, government agencies, and other stakeholders to translate discoveries into applications that improve people’s lives.

Advisory groups through the years