In this UCL Connect bicentennial special event, we heard from Dr Harith Akram and Dr Will Muirhead, the academics behind Neuralink and Neuropixels.
More than a thousand UCL alumni, students and staff registered to hear directly from these pioneers of neurotechnology and learn more about how new tools are expanding and reshaping the possibilities of brain science.
If you missed it, you can watch the full recording below.
The event is part of our UCL Connect programme of professional and personal development events and resources, which offers UCL students and alumni the chance to tap into the rich knowledge and skills of UCL’s global community.
View more UCL Connect events
Neuralink
Neuralink is a brain-computer interface technology with the potential to transform the lives of people living with severe neurological disorders. It involves the insertion of a flexible implant, comprised of over 1000 electrodes, using surgical robots. Through measuring and decoding electrical signals generated by the brain’s neurons, Neuralink enables patients to control computers using just their thoughts. This technology has the potential to allow people living with spinal cord injuries and degenerative conditions like Motor Neuron Disease to regain some independence by enabling them to operate technology like robotic arms, specialist wheelchairs, and speech devices.
Neuropixels
Neuropixels probes are next-generation electrodes that record the activity of hundreds of neurons in the brain. With the ability to measure individual neurons, something that until recently has been impossible, Neuropixels open new possibilities for studying how the brain operates. So far, use of Neuropixels has revealed new insights into how speech is encoded in the brain.
The topic and the way in which it was presented were amazing. Incredibly interesting and accessible.
Both speakers were excellent communicators. They made very effective use of visuals and explained complex technical concepts in an engaging way.
Meet our speakers
Dr Harith Akram
Honorary Clinical Associate Professor
University College London Clinical and Movement Neurosciences
Dr Akram is a Consultant Functional Neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (UCLH) and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. He specialises advanced neuromodulation and brain–computer interface (BCI) technologies, with particular expertise in deep brain stimulation (DBS), ablative neurosurgery, MR-guided focused ultrasound, and next-generation neural interfaces.
Dr Will Muirhead
Consultant Neurosurgeon
University College London, Faculty of Brain Sciences
Dr Muirhead is a Consultant Neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (UCLH). He specialises in the treatment of intracranial tumours (especially skull base meningioma and vestibular schwannoma), cavernoma and trigeminal neuralgia. He presently works with the Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute on novel nneural interfaces and clinical trials.
