The Annual BCI Research Award 2014 - The Winners

BCI AWARD 2016

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The Winner for 2016

The BCI Award 2016 2^nd and 3^rd place are:

Sharlene Flesher^2,3, John Downey^2,3, Jennifer Collinger^1,2,3,4, Stephen Foldes^1,3,4, Jeffrey Weiss^1,2, Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara^1,2,5, Sliman Bensmaia⁶, Andrew Schwartz^2,3,8, Michael Boninger^1,2,4, Robert Gaunt^1,2,3
(^1,2,5,8Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Bioengineering, Neurological Surgery, Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
³Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
⁴Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
⁶Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.)
     Intracortical Microstimulation as a Feedback Source for Brain-Computer Interface Users

Thomas J. Oxley, Nicholas L. Opie, Sam E. John, Gil S. Rind, Stephen M. Ronayne, Clive N. May, Terence J. O’Brien
(Vascular Bionics Laboratory, Melbourne Brain Centre, Departments of Medicine and Neurology, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.)
     Minimally invasive endovascular stent-electrode array for high-fidelity, chronic recordings of
     cortical neural activity

The Nominees for 2016

• Carlos Amaral¹, João Andrade¹, Marco Simões¹, Susana Mouga^1,2, Bruno Direito¹, Miguel Castelo-Branco^1,3
  (¹IBILI - Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine – University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
  ²Unidade de Neurodesenvolvimento e Autismo do Serviço do Centro de Desenvolvimento da Criança, Pediatric Hospital, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
  ³ICNAS – Brain Imaging Network of Portugal.)
       A P300-based brain-computer interface for social attention rehabilitation in autism


• Daiki Aminaka, Tomasz M. Rutkowski
  (University of Tsukuba, Japan.)
       Sixteen Commands and 40 Hz Carrier Frequency Code-modulated Visual Evoked Potential BCI


• Luke Bashford^1,2, JingWu³, Devapratim Sarma³, Kelly Collins⁴, Jeff Ojemann⁴, Carsten Mehring²
  (¹Imperial College London, Bioengineering, UK
  ²Bernstein Centre, Faculty of Biology, BrainLinks-BrainTools, Univ. of Freiburg, Germany
  ³Bioengineering, Ctr. For Sensorimotor Neural Eng.
  ⁴Dept. of Neurolog. Surgery, Ctr. For Sensorimotor Neural Eng., Univ. of Washington, USA.)
       Natural movement with concurrent brain-computer interface control induces persistent dissociation
       of neural activity


• Sharlene Flesher^2,3, John Downey^2,3, Jennifer Collinger^1,2,3,4, Stephen Foldes^1,3,4, Jeffrey Weiss^1,2, Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara^1,2,5, Sliman Bensmaia⁶, Andrew Schwartz^2,3,8, Michael Boninger^1,2,4, Robert Gaunt^1,2,3
  (^1,2,5,8Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Bioengineering, Neurological Surgery, Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
  ³Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
  ⁴Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
  ⁶Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.)
       Intracortical Microstimulation as a Feedback Source for Brain-Computer Interface Users


• Thomas J. Oxley, Nicholas L. Opie, Sam E. John, Gil S. Rind, Stephen M. Ronayne, Clive N. May, Terence J. O’Brien
  (Vascular Bionics Laboratory, Melbourne Brain Centre, Departments of Medicine and Neurology, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.)
       Minimally invasive endovascular stent-electrode array for high-fidelity, chronic recordings of
       cortical neural activity


• Jaime A. Pereira^1,2, Ranganatha Sitaram^1,3, Pradyumna Sepulveda^2,4,5, Mohit Rana², Cristián Montalba⁵, Cristián Tejos^3,4,5, Sergio Ruiz^1,2,3
  (¹Department of Psychiatry and Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
  ²Laboratory of Brain-Machine Interfaces and Neuromodulation, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
  ³3 Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Schools of Engineering, Medicine and Biology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
  ⁴Department of Electrical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
  ⁵Biomedical Imaging Center, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.)
       Brain-Computer Interfaces based on fMRI for Volitional Control of Amygdala and
       Fusiform Face Area. Applications in Autism


• Matthias Schultze-Kraft, Daniel Birman, Marco Rusconi, Carsten Allefeld, Kai Görgen, Sven Dähne, Benjamin Blankertz, John-Dylan Haynes
  (Neurotechnology Group, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.)
       Reclaiming the Free Will: A Real-Time Duel between a Human and a Brain-Computer Interface


• Gaurav Sharma¹, Nick Annetta¹, Dave Friedenberg¹, Marcie Bockbrader², Ammar Shaikhouni², W. Mysiw², Chad Bouton¹, Ali Rezai²
  (¹Battelle Memorial Institute, 505 King Ave, Columbus, OH 43201
  ²The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA 43210.)
       An Implanted BCI for Real-Time Cortical Control of Functional Wrist
       and Finger Movements in a Human with Quadriplegia


• Jordy Thielen, Pieter Marsman, Colleen Monaghan, Jason Farquhar and Peter Desain
  (Donders Center for Cognition, Radboud University Nijmegen)
       Broad-band BCI: finding structure in noisy data


• Yueming Wang¹, Minlong Lu², Zhaohui Wu², Liwen Tian², Kedi Xu¹, Xiaoxiang Zheng¹, Gang Pan²
  (¹Qiushi Academy for Advanced Studies, Zhejiang University, China.
  ²College of Computer Science, Zhejiang University , China)
       Vision-Augmented Rat Cyborg


• Seung Woo Lee and Shelley I. Fried
  (Boston VA Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.)
       Precise and reliable activation of cortex with micro-coils


• L. Yao¹, T. Xie², Z. Wu³, X. Sheng², D. Zhang², C. Lin¹, F. Negro¹, L. Chen³, N. Mrachacz-Kersting⁴, X. Zhu², D. Farina¹
  (¹Institute of Neurorehabilitation Systems, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
  ²State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Institute of Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
  ³Department of Neurosurgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, China.
  ⁴4 Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark)
       Towards Online Functional Brain Mapping and Monitoring during Awake Craniotomy Surgery
       using ECoG-based Brain-Surgeon Interface (BSI)

  "Thank you to the BCI experts in the jury, 2016:
  Mikhail A. Lebedev,
  Alexander Kaplan,
  Klaus-Robert Müller,
  Ayse Gündüz,
  Kyousuke Kamada,
  Guy Hotson,",   

says Christoph Guger.

BCI AWARD 2015

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The Winner for 2015

The BCI Award 2015 2^nd and 3^rd place are:

Roni Hogri^1,3, Simeon A. Bamford^2,4, Aryeh H. Taub^1,5 (¹Psychobiology Research Unit, Tel Aviv University, IL,²Complex Systems Modeling Group, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, IT, ³Current address:Department of Neurophysiology, Medical University of Vienna, AT,⁴Current address: Inilabs Gmbh, CH,⁵Current address: Department of Neurobiology, Wiezmann Institute of Science, IL)
     De-novo experience-based learning in rats interfaced with a “cerebellar chip”

Kenji Kato, Masahiro Sawada, Tadashi Isa, Yukio Nishimura (National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Aichi, JP)
     Restoration for the volitional motor function via an artificial neural connection

The Nominees for 2015

• Peter Brunner, Karen Dijkstra, Will Coon, Jürgen Mellinger, Anthony L. Ritaccio, Gerwin Schalk (Albany Medical College and the National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, Wadsworth Center, Albany, US)
       An ECoG-Based BCI on Auditory Attention to Natural Speech
• R. Chavarriaga¹, L.A. Gheorghe^1,2, H. Zhang¹, Z. Khaliliardali¹, J. d. R. Millán¹ (¹Defitech Chair in Brain-Machine Interface, Center for Neuroprosthetics, EPFL, Lausanne, CH,²Mobility Services Laboratory, Nissan Research Center, Nissan Motor Co., JP)
       Easy riders: Brain-Computer interfaces for enhancing driving experience
• Damien Coyle¹, Karl McCreadie², Jacqueline Stow³, Jacinta McElligott³, Aine Carroll³ (¹School of Computing and Intelligent Systems, Ulster University, UK, ²Intelligent Systems Research Centre, Ulster University, UK, ³National Rehabilitation Hospital, IE)
       Sensorimotor Modulation Assessment and Brain-Computer Interface Training with Auditory feedback
       in Disorders of Consciousness
• Christian Herff¹, Dominic Heger², Adriana de Pesters³,Dominic Telaar², Peter Brunner^3,4, Gerwin Schalk^3,4, Tanja Schultz¹ (¹Cognitive Systems Lab, Universität Bremen, Bremen, DE, ²Cognitive Systems Lab, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, DE, ³National Resource Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, Wadsworth Center, Albany, US, ⁴Department of Neurology, Albany Medical College, Albany, US)
       Brain-to-Text: Towards continuous speech as a paradigm for BCI
• Roni Hogri^1,3, Simeon A. Bamford^2,4, Aryeh H. Taub^1,5 (¹Psychobiology Research Unit, Tel Aviv University, IL,²Complex Systems Modeling Group, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, IT, ³Current address:Department of Neurophysiology, Medical University of Vienna, AT,⁴Current address: Inilabs Gmbh, CH,⁵Current address: Department of Neurobiology, Wiezmann Institute of Science, IL)
       De-novo experience-based learning in rats interfaced with a “cerebellar chip”
• Guy Hotson¹, David P McMullen², Matthew S. Fifer³, Matthew S. Johannes⁴, Kapil D. Katyal⁴, Matthew P. Para⁴, Robert Armiger⁴, William S. Anderson², Nitish V. Thakor³, Brock A. Wester⁴, Nathan E. Crone⁵ (¹Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, US,²Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University, US, ³Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University,US, ⁴Applied Neuroscience, JHU Applied Physics Laboratory, US, ⁵Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, US)
       Individual Finger Control of the Modular Prosthetic Limb using High-Density Electrocorticography
       in a Human Subject
• Kenji Kato, Masahiro Sawada, Tadashi Isa, Yukio Nishimura (National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Aichi, JP)
       Restoration for the volitional motor function via an artificial neural connection
• Guangye Li, Dingguo Zhang (Robotics Institute, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, CN)
       Brain-Computer Interface Controlling Cyborg: A Functional Brain-to-Brain Interface between Human and
       Cockroach
• N Mrachacz-Kersting¹, L Yao², S Gervasio¹, N Jiang³, BD Ebbesen¹, TS Palsson¹, TG Nielsen¹, E Kamavuako¹, R. Xu², D. Falla², K Dremstrup¹, D Farina² (¹Sensory-Motor Interaction, Aalborg University, DK,² University Medical Center, Göttigen, DE, ³University of Waterloo, CA)
       A Brain-Computer-Interface to combat musculoskeletal pain
• Sergey D. Stavisky, Jonathan C. Kao, Paul Nuyujukian, Stephen I. Ryu, Krishna V. Shenoy (Stanford University, US)
       Increasing the useful lifespan of intracortical BCIs by decoding local field potentials as an alternative
       or compliment to spikes

  "Thank you to the BCI experts in the jury, 2015:
  Junishi Ushiba,
  Masayuki Hirata,
  Nuri Firat Ince,
  Zachary Freudenburg,
  José ded R. Millán,
  Sydney Cash,
  Tomasz M. Rutkowski",   

says Christoph Guger.

BCI AWARD 2014

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The Winner for 2014

The Award was presented at the 6^th International Brain-Computer Interface Conference in Graz (Austria), and BCI researchers from around the world were present for the award ceremony.

This year - for the first time - the best 3 were announced!

 "A fascinating new idea never explored before",   

says Gernot R. Müller-Putz.

The BCI Award 2014 2^nd and 3^rd place are:

J. Ibáñez^a, J. I. Serrano^a, M. D. del Castillo^a, E. Monge^b, F. Molina^b, F.M. Rivas^b, J.L. Pons^a (^aBioengineering Group of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), ^bLAMBECOM group, Health Sciences Faculty, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Alcorcón, ES)
     Heterogeneous BCI-triggered functional electrical stimulation intervention for the upper-limb rehabilitation
     of stroke patients

N. Mrachacz-Kersting^a, N. Jiang^b, S. Aliakbaryhosseinabadi^a R. Xu^b, L. Petrini^a, R. Lontis^a, M. Jochumsen^a, K. Dremstrup^a, D. Farina^b (^aSensory-Motor Interaction, Department of Health Science and Technology, DK, ^bDept. Neurorehabilitation Engineering Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience University Medical Center, DE)
     The changing Brain: Bidirectional learning between algorithm and user

The Nominees for 2014

• P. Brunner^a, K. Dijkstra^a, W. Coon^a, J. Mellinger^a, A. L. Ritaccio^a, G. Schalk^a (^aWadsworth Center and Albany Medical College, US)
       Towards an Auditory Attention BCI
• J. Gomez-Pilar^a, R. Corralejo^a, D. Álvarez^a, R. Hornero^a (^aBiomedical Engineering Group, E. T. S. I. Telecomunicación, University of Valladolid, ES)
       Neurofeedback training by motor imagery based-BCI improves neurocognitive areas in elderly people
• K. Hamada^a, H. Mori^b, H. Shinoda^a, T.M. Rutkowski^b,c (^aThe University of Tokyo, JP, ^bLife Science Center of TARA, University of Tsukuba, JP, ^cRIKEN Brain Science Institute, JP)
       Airborne Ultrasonic Tactile Display BCI
• J. Ibáñez^a, J. I. Serrano^a, M. D. del Castillo^a, E. Monge^b, F. Molina^b, F.M. Rivas^b, J.L. Pons^a (^aBioengineering Group of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), ^bLAMBECOM group, Health Sciences Faculty, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Alcorcón, ES)
       Heterogeneous BCI-triggered functional electrical stimulation intervention for the upper-limb rehabilitation
       of stroke patients
• D. McMullen^a, G. Hotson^b, M. Fifer^c, K. Kaytal^d, B. Wester^d, M. Johannes^d, T. McGee^d, A. Harris^d, A. Ravitz^d, W. S. Anderson^a, N. Thakor^c, N. Crone^a (^aJohns Hopkins University School of Medicine Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, ^bJohns Hopkins University Department of Electrical Engineering,^cJohns Hopkins University Department of Biomedical Engineering,^dJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, US)
       Demonstration of a Semi-Autonomous Hybrid Brain-Machine Interface using Human Intracranial EEG,
       Eye Tracking, and Computer Vision to Control a Robotic Upper Limb Prosthetic
• K. J. Miller^a, G. Schalk^b, D. Hermes^c, J. G. Ojemann^d, R. P.N. Rao^e (^aDepartment of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, ^bWadsworth Center and Albany Medical College, ^cDepartment of Psychology, Stanford University, ^dDepartment of Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, ^eDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, US)
       Unsupervised decoding the onset and type of visual stimuli using electrocorticographic (ECoG)
       signals in humans
• N. Mrachacz-Kersting^a, N. Jiang^b, S. Aliakbaryhosseinabadi^a R. Xu^b, L. Petrini^a, R. Lontis^a, M. Jochumsen^a, K. Dremstrup^a, D. Farina^b (^aSensory-Motor Interaction, Department of Health Science and Technology, DK, ^bDept. Neurorehabilitation Engineering Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience University Medical Center, DE)
       The changing Brain: Bidirectional learning between algorithm and user
• M. M. Shanechi^a,b, A. L. Orsborn^c, H. G. Moorman^c, S. Gowda^b, S. Dangi^b, J. M. Carmena^b,c (^aSchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, ^bDepartment of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, ^cUC Berkeley UCSF Joint Graduate Program in Bioengineering, US)
       Rapid control and feedback rates in the sensorimotor pathway enhance neuroprosthetic control
• F. R. Willett^a,b,c, H. A. Kalodimos^a,b,c, D. M. Taylor^a,b,c (^aCleveland Clinic, Neurosciences, ^bCleveland VA Medical Center, ^cCase Western Reserve University, Biomedical Engineering, US)
       Retraining the Brain to Directly Control Muscle Stimulators in an Upper-Limb Neuroprosthesis
• A. Wilson^a, R. Arya^a (^aCincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, US)
       Real-Time Bedside Cortical Language Mapping during Spontaneous Conversation with Children

  "Thank you to the BCI experts in the jury, 2014:
  Gernot R. Müller-Putz,
  Deniz Erdogmus,
  Peter Brunner,
  Tomasz M. Rutkowski,
  Mikhail A. Lebedev,
  Philip N. Sabes",   

says Christoph Guger.

BCI AWARD 2013

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The Winner for 2013

The Award was presented at the BCI Meeting 2013 in Asilomar, and BCI researchers from around the world were present for the award ceremony.

The Nominees for 2013

• M.G. Bleichner^a, J.M. Jansma^a, Z.V. Freudenburg^a, E.J. Aarnoutse^a, M.J. Vansteensel^a, N.F. Ramsey^a (^aRudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, Dept. of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Utrecht, NL)
       Give me a sign: The possibilities of using hand gestures as control signal for implanted brain computer
       interfaces.
• D. T. Bundy^a, E. C. Leuthardt^a (^aWashington University, St. Louis, Mo, USA)
       An Ipsilateral, Contralesional BCI in Chronic Stroke Patients.
• M. C. Dadarlat^a,b, J. E. O’Doherty^a, P. N. Sabes^a,b (^aDepartment of Physiology, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, San Francisco, CA, US, ^bUC Berkeley-UCSF Bioengineering Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, CA, US)
       A learning-based approach to artificial sensory feedback: intracortical microstimulation replaces and augments vision.
• Y. Hashimoto^a, T. Ota^b, M. Mukaino^b, J.Ushiba^c (^aDepartment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Kitami Institute of Technology, Kitami, Hokkaido , JP, ^bDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Asahikawa Medical University Hospital, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, JP, ^cDepartment of Biosciences and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, JP)
       Motor recovery of chronic writer’s cramp by brain-computer interface rehabilitation: A pilot study.
• I. Iturrate^a, R. Chavarriaga^b, L. Montesano^a, J. Minguez^a, J. del R. Millán^b (^aInstituto de Investigación en Ingeniería de Aragón and Dpto. de Informatica e Ingeniería de Sistemas, University of Zaragoza, ES, ^bDefitech Foundation Chair in Non-Invasive Brain-Machine Interface, EPFL, Lausanne, CH)
       Cognitive signals for brain-machine interfaces: an alternative paradigm to neuroprosthetics control.
• N. Jiang^a, N. Mrachacz-Kersting^b, R. Xu^a, K. Dremstrup^b and D. Farina^a (^aDepartment of Neurorehabilitation Engineering, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, University Medical Center, Göttingen, DE, ^bCenter for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, DK)
       An Accurate, Versatile, and Robust Brain Switch for Neurorehabilitation.
• D. Looney^a, P. Kidmose^b, M. J. Morrell^a,c, D. P. Mandic^a (^aImperial College London, UK, ^bAarhus University, Denmark, ^cSleep Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK)
       Ear-EEG: Continuous Brain Monitoring.
• D. Novak^a, B. Beyeler^a, X. Omlin^a, R. Riener^a,b (^aSensory-Motor Systems Lab, ETH Zurich, CH, ^bSpinal Cord Injury Center of Balgrist University Hospital, CH)
       A hybrid brain computer interface for adaptive workload estimation in rehabilitation robotics.
• M. Shanechi^a,b, R. Hu^d,e, M. Powers^d, G. Wornell^c, E. Brown^d,e,f, Z. Williams^d,e (^aDepartment of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA ^bDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA ^cDepartment of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA ^dMassachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA ^eHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA ^fDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA)
       A concurrent brain-machine interface for sequential motor function.
• D. Zhang^a, H. Song^a, R. Xu^a, B. Hong^a (^aDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, CN)
       Exploring an fMRI-guided minimally invasive subdural N200 speller.

  "Thank you to the BCI experts in the jury, 2013:
  Theresa Vaughan,
  Douglas Weber,
  Adam Hebb,
  Donatella Mattia,
  Andrzej Cichocki,
  Adam Wilson,
  Surjo Soekadar",   

says Christoph Guger.

BCI AWARD 2012

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The Winner for 2012

The Award was presented at the "BCI party" at the SfN 2012 conference in New Orleans, and BCI researchers from around the world were present for the award ceremony.

 "It is a great pleasure to congratulate the Soekadar and Birbaumer team on their project entitled 'Improving Efficacy of Ipsilesional Brain-Computer Interface Training in Neurorehabilitation of Chronic Stroke.' Their work is highlighting the important movement of neuroprosthetics towards stroke. There is a fundamental need to use BCI approaches to address this clinical area of motor disability that numbers in the hundreds of thousands per year and stands to increase substantially as the world population ages. BCI for stroke will likely be the next chapter for engineered restorative strategies that could be paradigm shifting in this widespread form of motor impairment",   

says Eric Leuthardt (chariman of the jury 2012).

And the winner is....This picture presents the winner, as well as some jury members and organizers congratulating the winner. From left to right: Surjo R. Soekadar (first from left, holding the Award), Leigh Hochberg, Gerwin Schalk, Junichi Ushiba and Christoph Guger.

This picture presents the nominees, jury members and organizers.

The Nominees for 2012

• A.B. Ajiboye, D. Bacher, L. Barefoot, E. Berhanu, M.J. Black, D. Blana, S.S. Cash, K. Centrella, E.K. Chadwick, A. Cornwell, J. P. Donoghue, E. Eskandar, J. M. Feldman, G. M. Friehs, E. Gallivan, B. Jarosiewicz, S. Haddadin, L. R. Hochberg, M. Homer, P.-S. Kim, B. King, R. F. Kirsch, J. Liu, W. Q. Malik, N. Y. Masse, J. A. Perge, D. M. Rosler, A. Sarma, N. Schmansky, J. D. Simeral, P. van der Smagt, S. Stavisky, B. Travers, K. Tringale, W. Truccolo, J. Vogel (BrainGate Research Team, School of Engineering, Brown University, Deutsches Zentrum für Lift- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Robotik und Mechatronik)
       Intracortical Control of Assistive Devices by Individuals with Tetraplegia.
• C.A. Domingues Teixeira^a, B. Direito^a, M. Bandarabadi^a, H. Feldwisch-Drentrup^b,c,d,f, A. Witton^g, C. Alvarado^g, M. Le Van Quyen^g, B. Schelter^b,f,h, G. Favaroⁱ, A. Dourado^a
  (^aCISUC – Centro de Informática e Sistemas da Universidade de Coimbra, 3030-290, Coimbra, Portugal ^bFreiburg Center for Data Analysis and Modeling (FDM), Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany ^cBernstein Center Freiburg (BCF), Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany ^dFreiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany ^eDepartment of Neurobiology and Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany ^fDepartment of Physics, University of Freiburg, Germany ^gCentre de Recherche de l’Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France ^hInstitute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology, SUPA, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK ⁱMicromed S.p.A., Treviso, Italy )
       Brainatic: A System for Real-time Epileptic Seizure Prediction.
• L. George^a, M. Marchal^b, L. Glondu^c, A. Lécuyer^d
  (^a INRIA, Rennes, France ^bINSA, Rennes, France ^cENS Cachan, Bruz, France ^dIRISA, Rennes, France )
       Combining Brain-Computer Interfaces and Haptics: Detecting Mental Workload to Adapt Haptic Assistance.
• T. Z. Lauritzen^a, J. Harris^a,b, J. A. Sahel^c, J. D. Dorn^a, K. McClure^a, R. J. Greenberg^a
  (^aSecond Sight Medical Products, Sylmar, CA, USA. ^bBrigham Young University – Idaho, Rexburg, ID, USA. ^cUMR-S 968, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France; and CIC INSERM DHOS 503, National Ophtalmology Hospital, Paris, France. )
       Reading Visual Braille with a Retinal Prosthesis.
• D. Looney^a, P. Kidmose^b, D.P. Mandic^a
  (^aImperial College London, UK ^bAarhus University, Denmark )
       Ear-EEG: User-Centered, Wearable & 24/7 BCI.
• N. Mrachacz-Kersting^a, N. Jiang^b, K. Dremstrup^a, D. Farina^c
  (^aCenter for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, DK-9220 Aalborg, Denmark ^bStrategic Technology Management, Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH, Duderstadt, Germany ^cNeurorehabilitation Engineering Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience University Medical Center, Göttingen, Germany )
       A novel Brain-Computer Interface for Chronic Stroke Patients.
• S. Ruiz, M. Rana, K. Sass, T. Kircher, N. Birbaumer, R. Sitaram
  (Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology. Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen, Germany, Psychiatry Department, Medicine School. Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.)
       Brain Connectivity and Semantic Priming Enhancement using Brain Computer Interfaces based on
       Real-time fMRI Neurofeedback.
• S. R. Soekadar^a, N. Birbaumer^b
  (^aApplied Neurotechnology Lab, University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany ^bInstitute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany)
       Improving Efficacy of Ipsilesional Brain-Computer Interface Training in Neurorehabilitation of Chronic
       Stroke.
• M. Takemi, Y. Masakado, M. Liu, J. Ushiba (Keio University, Japan)
       Online Estimate of Event-related Desynchronization by Hand Motor Imagery is Associated with
       Corticospinal Excitability-physiological Evidence for Brain-Computer Interface Based Neurorehabilitation.
• T. Yanagisawa^a,b, M. Hirata^a, Y. Saitoh^a,e, H. Kishima^a, K. Matsushita^a, T. Goto^a, R. Fukuma^b,c, H. Yokoi^d, Y. Kamitani^b,c, T. Yoshimine^a
  (^aDepartment of Neurosurgery, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka ^bATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Kyoto ^cNara Institute of Science and Technology, Nara ^dUniversity of Tokyo Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, Tokyo, Japan ^eDepartment of Neuromodulation and Neurosurgery office for University-Industry Collaboration, Osaka, Japan. )
       Electrocorticographic Control of Prosthetic Hands in Paralyzed Patients.
  

  "Thank you to the BCI experts in the jury, 2012:
  Eric Leuthardt,
  Leigh Hochberg,
  Gert Pfurtscheller,
  Gerwin Schalk,
  Moritz Grosse-Wentrup,
  Junichi Ushiba",   

says Christoph Guger.

BCI AWARD 2011

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The 10 nominated projects are published

The 10 nominated projects are published in the book Brain-Computer Interface Research: A State-of-the-Art Summary,
edited by Christoph Guger, Brendan Z. Allison and Guenter Edlinger, Springer
More details of the book

The Winner for 2011

This year, the international jury was led by Prof. Gert Pfurtscheller from the Graz University of Technology. Prof. Pfurtscheller founded the Graz BCI laboratory, one of the first labs doing brain-computer interface research. He selected the international jury and scored the 64 submitted projects with them.

 "The BCI Award is outstanding because the whole world competes and only one project can win",   

says Gert Pfurtscheller.

The Award was presented at a gala dinner at the prestigious Hotel Weitzer in Graz. This dinner was part of the Fifth International BCI Conference hosted by the Graz University of Technology, and hence over 100 BCI researchers from around the world were present for the award ceremony.

 "The possibility to analyze Gamma activity with scalp EEG and ECoG opens many new applications",   

says Christoph Guger.

We are happy to announce that the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany represented by Moritz Grosse-Wentrup and Bernhard Schölkopf was selected for the 2011 BCI Award!
The work of Dr. Moritz Grosse-Wentrup and Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf is outstanding because they were able to show that BCI users can modulate gamma frequencies in the EEG. Gamma activity is a very high frequency component which is very small in amplitude and is very difficult to measure in scalp EEG. It is typically only visible with invasive recordings done with implanted electrodes, which limits the usability of BCI systems. The winning project showed that the BCI performance can be improved by using this rhythmic activity recorded with scalp EEG.

And the winner is....This picture presents the jury and organizers congratulating the winner. From left to right: Michael Tangermann, Gernot Müller-Putz, Gert Pfurtscheller, Theresa Vaughan, Moritz Grosse-Wentrup (fifth from left, holding the Award), Christoph Guger, Brendan Allison, Jane Huggins, Cuntai Guan, Robert Leeb.

The Nominees for 2011

• Tim Blakely, Kai Miller, Jeffrey Ojemann, Rajesh Rao (University of Washington, USA)
       Exploring the cortical dynamics of learning by leveraging BCI paradigms.
• Jonathan S. Brumberg, Philip R. Kennedy, Frank H. Guenther (Boston University, USA)
       An auditory output brain-computer interface for speech communication.
• Samuel Clanton, Robert Rasmussen, Zohny Zohny, Meel Velliste, S. Morgan Jeffries, Angus McMorland, Andrew Schwartz (Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, USA)
       Seven degree of freedom cortical control of a robotic arm.
• Felix Darvas (University of Washington, USA)
       Utilizing high gamma (HG) band power changes as control signal for non-invasive BCI.
• Elisabeth V. C. Friedrich, Reinhold Scherer, Christa Neuper (University of Graz, Austria)
       User-appropriate and robust control strategies to enhance brain computer interface performance and
       usability.
• Moritz Grosse-Wentrup, Bernhard Schölkopf (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Germany)
       What are the neuro-physiological causes of performance variations in brain-computer interfacing?
• Eric C. Leuthardt, Charles Gaona, Mohit Sharma, Nicholas Szrama, Jarod Roland, Zac Freudenberg, Jamie Solis, Jonathan Breshears, Gerwin Schalk (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)
       Using the electrocorticographic speech network to control a brain-computer interface in humans
• Daniele De Massari, Carolin Ruf, Adrian Furdea, Sebastian Halder, Tamara Matuz, Niels Birbaumer (University of Tübingen, IRCCS, International Max Planck Research School, Germany)
       Towards communication in the completely locked-in state: neuroelectric semantic conditioning BCI.
• Qibin Zhao, Akinari Onishi, Yu Zhang, Andrzej Cichocki (RIKEN, Japan)
       An affective BCI using multiple ERP components associated to facial emotion processing.
• Raphael Zimmermann, Laura Marchal-Crespo, Olivier Lambercy, Marie-Christine Fluet, Jean-Claude Metzger, Johannes Brand, Janis Edelmann, Kynan Eng, Robert Riener, Martin Wolf, Roger Gassert (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)
       What's your next move? Detecting movement intention for stroke rehabilitation.
  

One of the nominated projects was from the laboratory for Advanced Brain Signal Processing, lead by Dr Cichocki, in the famous Riken Brain Science Institute in Wako-shi Japan, who commented on the significance of the nomination

 "The nomination shows that our BCI research is perspective and competitive worldwide
   and this strongly motivates us to continue our research on this topic in future",   

says Andrzej Cichocki.

  "Thank you to the BCI experts in the jury, 2011:
  Gert Pfurtscheller,
  Robert Leeb,
  Theresa Vaughan,
  Michael Tangermann,
  Cuntai Guan,
  Jane Huggins",   

says Christoph Guger.

Details for the BCI-Award 2011

In 2011 the Annual BCI Research Award is scheduled for the 5th International Brain-Computer Interface Conference, Sept. 22-24, 2011 in Graz, Austria. The prize will be awarded by the Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interfaces, Institute for Knowledge Discovery, Graz University of Technology. Chairman of the jury will be Prof. Gert Pfurtscheller, PhD. The deadline for submission will be June 15, 2011.

BCI AWARD 2010

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The 10 nominated projects are published

The 10 nominated projects are published in the book Recent Advances in Brain-Computer Interface Systems,
edited by Reza Fazel, InTech, 2011: State-of-the-Art in BCI research: BCI Award 2010
More details of the book

The Winner for 2010

The BCI Award 2010 winner is:

Cuntai Guan, Kai Keng Ang, Karen Sui Geok Chua, Beng Ti Ang (A*STAR, Singapore)
        Motor imagery-based Brain-Computer Interface robotic rehabilitation for stroke

 "The winning project shows a newly approaching application of BCI systems for stroke rehabilitation and
   in near future many groups will work on this topic",   

says Christoph Guger.

The Nominees for 2010

Out of 60 high quality submissions the jury has now nominated the 10 top-ranked candidates for the BCI Research Award. One of them will win the prize.

The 2010 Nominees in alphabetical order:

• Guangyu Bin, Xiaorong Gao, Shangkai Gao (Tsinghua University, China)
       A high speed word spelling BCI system based on code modulated visual evoked potentials
• Steven M. Chase, Andrew S. Whitford, and Andrew B. Schwartz (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
       Operant conditioning to identify independent, volitionally-controllable patterns of neural activity
• Cuntai Guan, Kai Keng Ang, Karen Sui Geok Chua, Beng Ti Ang (A*STAR, Singapore)
       Motor imagery-based Brain-Computer Interface robotic rehabilitation for stroke
• Jing Guo, Shangkai Gao, Bo Hong (Tsinghua University, China)
       An active auditory BCI for intention expression in locked-in
• Kimiko Kawashima, Keiichiro Shindo, Junichi Ushiba, Meigen Liu (Keio University, Japan)
       Neurorehabilitation for Chronic-Phase Stroke using a Brain-Machine Interface
• Tao Liu, Shangkai Gao, Bo Hong (Tsinghua University, China)
       Brain-actuated Google search by using motion onset VEP
• Jana Muenssinger, Harry George, Sebastian Halder, Adi Hoesle, Andrea Kübler
  (Universität Tübingen, Germany)
       Brain Painting - "Paint your way out"
• Mark Palatucci, Dean Pomerleau, Geoff Hinton, Tom Mitchell (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
       Thought Recognition with Semantic Output Codes
• David B. Ryan and Eric W. Sellers (East Tennessee State University, USA)
       Predictive Spelling with a P300-based BCI: Increasing Communication Rate
• George Townsend (Algoma University BCI Lab, Canada)
       Innovations in P300-based BCI Stimulus Presentation Methods

  "Thank you to the BCI experts in the jury, 2010:
  Eric Sellers,
  Dean Krusienski,
  Klaus-Robert Müller,
  Benjamin Blankertz,
  Theresa Vaughan,
  Bo Hong",   

says Christoph Guger.