BCI Atlas

UMich is a major neural engineering hub spanning intracortical iBCI translation, noninvasive clinical BCIs, and foundational neural probe hardware (the ‘Michigan probe’ lineage).

Lab — American

University of Michigan — Neural engineering & BCI ecosystem

Official site → Ann Arbor, MI, USA

BCI · lab · neural engineering · Michigan · intracortical · EEG · neural probes

The University of Michigan (UMich) is best understood less as a single “flagship BCI lab” and more as an ecosystem spanning the full stack: interfaces → circuits → decoding → clinical translation. It is also historically central to microfabricated silicon probes (the “Michigan probe” lineage), which shaped modern high-channel-count neural recording.

Why UMich matters

  • Clinic-facing iBCI momentum: UMich has publicly described a dedicated clinical pathway (BCI clinic) and neurosurgery-led implantable BCI work.
  • Hardware lineage: UMich engineering describes the Michigan probe as a turning point in multi-site neural recording.
  • Breadth: intracortical systems work coexists with noninvasive clinical BCI efforts focused on practical usability.

1) Willsey Laboratory for Brain–Computer Interfaces (implantable iBCI, neurosurgery)

Professor: Matthew Willsey, MD, PhD (Neurosurgery)

Official pages:

What they do (high-level): Implantable intracortical BCIs aimed at restoring speech and motor function, with emphasis on robustness and clinical translation.

Notable translation signal: UMich publicly described an in-human Connexus / Paradromics recording performed intraoperatively during epilepsy surgery.

Representative peer-reviewed papers (starting set):

2) Chestek Lab (implantable BMI systems + carbon-fiber electrode technology)

Professor: Cynthia (Cindy) Chestek, PhD

Official pages:

What they do (high-level): Implantable BMI systems and interface hardware, including high-density carbon fiber electrode arrays.

Representative papers:

3) UM-DBI (Direct Brain Interface Laboratory) — noninvasive clinical BCIs (EEG / P300)

Professor: Jane Huggins, PhD

Official pages:

What they do (high-level): Practical EEG-based BCIs with an emphasis on usability (including P300 communication paradigms) and translation into clinical/AAC contexts.

Representative papers:

4) Michigan neural probe lineage (microfabricated silicon probes)

UMich engineering highlights the “Michigan probe” as a major inflection point in multi-site neural recording:

A broader technical overview (secondary, open access):

If this hub stays useful as the atlas grows, the next step is to fork into subpages (one per lab) with:

  • PI + official pages
  • interface types (intracortical / EEG / probes)
  • 3–6 key publications (PubMed/DOI)
  • links back to relevant Devices entries

References / official pages