Neurosurgery + Robotics: Exploring the Latest in Brain-Machine Interface Technology

Columbia Neurosurgery and the School of Engineering and Applied Science are partnering together through the joint appointment of Qi Wang as Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurological Sciences (in Neurological Surgery). Dr. Wang is currently developing technologies for restoring and enhancing sensory functions and cognition through brain-machine interfaces (BMI) to crack neural codes underlying our perception and cognition. He is developing new strategies for selectively activating neural circuitry. Of particular interest to Dr. Wang is to understand how sensory information is processed in the brain to form perception and inform an optimal decision and how this process is modulated by behavioral states, such as attention and arousal. Specifically, his group uses single-unit electrophysiology, optogenetics, and patterned microstimulation, in concert with behavioral tasks, to model interactions between different brain regions during sensory processing and engineer sensory percepts through patterned microstimulation in the nervous system. 

Dr. Wang received a BS in mechanical engineering from North China University of Electric Power in 1992 and a Master and PhD in Robotics from Harbin Institute of Technology in 1995 and 1998, respectively. He earned his second PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from McGill University in 2006 and received postdoc training in neuroscience at Harvard University from 2006 to 2008.  He received numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2019, the IEEE EMBS Early Career Achievement in 2014, the Sackler Convergence Award in 2015, the NARSAD Young Investigator Award in 2014, and the Best Paper Award at the 14th IEEE Haptics Symposium in 2006

Says Dr. Wang, “Robotics technology will greatly increase the efficacy and precision of neurosurgeries while reducing neurosurgeons’ physical and mental burdens, thereby improving human health.” He continued, “I am thrilled to collaborate with Columbia neurosurgeons to address complex disorders of the human nervous system through my specialty.”

Dr. Wang will collaborate with Dr. Raymond Sekula and Dr. Brett Youngerman. Says Dr. Sekula on this new appointment, “Dr. Wang is an internationally recognized systems neuroscientist and neural engineer with a strong record of publications in the highest impact scientific journals and an equally strong record of collaboration with other neuroscientists and clinicians. We are delighted to formally acknowledge his important role within our department."

Dr. Youngerman also shared, “It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Wang. We are fortunate to have him at Columbia and now in the Department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Wang’s expertise in neural circuitry and his collaborative approach will be invaluable to the development of innovative treatments for neurological disorders. We look forward to the exciting advancements his research will bring to our field."

Congratulations Dr. Wang!