Healthcare industry

Brain-computer interfaces are able to restore some mobility to paralyzed people by controlling exoskeletons. However, more complex control signals cannot yet be read from the head surface because conventional sensors are not sensitive enough. A collaboration of Fraunhofer IAF, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, University of Stuttgart and other industrial partners has taken up this challenge.

An interdisciplinary research team at the University of Freiburg has found important clues about the functioning of the sensorimotor cortex. The new findings on neuronal activities in this brain area could be helpful for the further development and use of so-called neuroprostheses. These have an interface with the nervous system and are intended to help compensate for neuronal dysfunctions.

For the third time in a row CorTec is ranked among the most innovative companies in Germany. Statista has been conducting out the survey since 2014 and has joined forces with German business magazine Capital for the first time this year for the award. Together with 14 other companies in the medical devices industry, CorTec is entitled to carry the title “Germany’s Most Innovative Company” in this segment.

Article - 21/02/2019

Using neuromedical artificial intelligence responsibly

Brain-computer interfaces are the latest developments in the neurotechnology field. They are used to record brain activity, which is then decoded with artificial intelligence techniques and converted into control signals for robots or computers. While this brings hope to severely paralysed people, it also implies risks due to the interest of companies like Google and Facebook in this type of data.

Article - 30/10/2018

Eucor – bringing the European Campus to life

Enrolling at one university and being able to use the services of a total of five universities is unique in the European Research Area. A model project called Eucor - The European Campus offers students and young scientists this opportunity at universities in the Germany-France-Switzerland border triangle, which simultaneously acts as a borderless academic area for the sciences.

Article - 19/04/2018

New combination therapy for treating stroke patients

30 to 40 percent of all stroke patients suffer from persistent signs of paralysis that prevents them from using the affected hand. The innovative combination of two non-invasive treatment methods is a therapeutic approach with considerable potential for treating severely impaired patients.

Article - 14/12/2016

Transcranial brain stimulation to counteract chronic tiredness

You may well be familiar with the ”leaden” feeling associated with lack of sleep. However, chronic tiredness lasting many months might be a sign of a serious disease. Dr. Lukas Frase, together with Prof. Dr. Christoph Nissen’s team at the Freiburg University Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, has come up with a method to help patients with abnormally high sleep needs. The method uses weak electrostimulation and has the…

Company profile - 14/07/2016

neuroloop GmbH: how the manipulation of neuronal information can lower blood pressure

Millions of people worldwide suffer from high blood pressure. However, taking medicines to control high blood pressure does not work for everyone. Dr. Dennis Plachta and Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz from IMTEK have now developed a neurostimulator to control blood pressure. Together with Dr. Michael Lauk, an experienced company founder, the two researchers set up a company called neuroloop, which is funded by Aesculap AG and aims to turn the…

CorTec just closed a new investment that will support bringing new personalized therapies for neurological diseases to patients. With Mangold Invest a new investor could be attracted who wants to go along that way with the young medical engineering company located in Freiburg. Equally convinced of the success of this project are the previous investors who are participating in this round of financing.

Article - 04/04/2016

An intelligent system for the storage and controlled release of pharmaceutical substances

A sophisticated reservoir that sits under the skin and dispenses precise quantities of drugs locally and at a particular point in time now exists. A junior research group from the University of Freiburg’s BrainLinks-BrainTools excellence cluster led by Dr. Maria Asplund and her doctoral student Christian Böhler from the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) has developed a small storage system made of organic-inorganic hybrid material…

Article - 05/05/2014

Michael Doser brings together biomedicine and textile research

Textile products used for the treatment of wounds are increasingly being coupled with bioactive functions. A growing number of biocompatible and absorbable high-tech materials are used on and in the human body for therapy, diagnosis and measurements. Michael Doser, Director of Medical Engineering/Biomedical Process Engineering at the ITV Denkendorf, is working on innovative wound management products and processes.

Article - 19/08/2013

Brain mapping – ‘eavesdropping’ on the brain

Although numerous scientists have spent decades exploring the brain and many things are already known the brain is still considered one of the greatest mysteries of science. While structural elements such as cell and axon distribution can only be mapped post mortem motor and sensory functions can only be studied in vivo i.e. using living organisms. Dr. Tonio Ball and his colleagues at the BrainLinks-BrainTools cluster of excellence at the…

Article - 25/02/2013

How can light be used to control the behaviour of neurons?

The control of the behaviour of individual neurons simply by switching light stimuli on and off sends neuroscientists into raptures as it reveals insights into as yet hidden and complicated processes in the brain. Thanks to optogenetics this particular science fiction became reality a few years ago. Working with researchers from the Bernstein Center at the University of Freiburg and the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in…

Article - 31/12/2012

Niels Birbaumer - psychologist for the brain

Niels Birbaumer is one of the leading figures in the history of brain-computer interfaces (BCI), which are direct communication devices between the brain and a computer. Birbaumer has been dealing with BCIs for as much as forty years. He believes in the power of BCIs, a power that is based on human imagination and is used to treat brain disturbances. The director of the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurology in Tübingen was…

Article - 08/10/2012

Epilepsy changes brain architecture

Epileptic fits, i. e. abnormal excessive neuronal activity in the hippocampus, severely affects nerve cells and can lead to permanent damage. A team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Carola Haas from the Neurocenter at the University of Freiburg is focusing on changes in the brain anatomy of patients suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy as well as on the molecular and cellular processes underlying the disease. The team’s research focuses on stem…

Article - 10/09/2012

"BrainLinks-BrainTools" – how an intention becomes reality

An accident victim is no longer able to pick up a tea cup because the nerves between the brain and the arm are severed. Researchers from the faculties of biology medicine and technology at the University of Freiburg are able to translate pure thought into the movement of a cursor on a computer screen. The researchers are part of the BrainLinks-BrainTools consortium.

Article - 24/10/2011

Review: Bernstein Conference 2011 – stories from the neurosciences

The German National Bernstein Network for Computational Neuroscience (NNCN), a unique network of researchers working in the still young field of computational neuroscience, held this year’s annual meeting in Freiburg, a city in the south of Germany that is home to six German Bernstein Centers. Now in its 7th year, this year’s Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience also addressed applied aspects of neurotechnology.

Article - 30/05/2011

CorTec GmbH – a bridge between ideas and action

Brain machine interfaces that are able to read a paralysed patients desired movement from his or her brain and convert it into actual movement might be available in a few years time if everything goes to plan. CorTec GmbH a spin-off company of the University of Freiburg has a technology platform that is able to measure and interpret a persons brain activity and drive muscles or artificial prostheses.

Press release - 17/07/2010

Bernstein Center Freiburg

From now on the Bernstein Center Freiburg will become the central facility for coordinating research in the areas of computational neuroscience and neurotechnology in Freiburg. It will combine experimental and theoretical neurosciences and their applications in computer science microsystems technology and clinical use into a multidisciplinary research hub.

The NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute in Reutlingen organised its biannual MEA conference from 8 to 11 July 2008. More than 200 developers and microelectrode array users from 18 countries came together in Reutlingen to present their latest developments and results.

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF is to finance a new Bernstein Focus on Neurotechnology at the Universities of Freiburg and Tübingen with funds totalling ten million euros. The new initiative is part of the Computational Neuroscience funding programme.

The BMBF has decided to fund a Bernstein Focus on Neurotechnology in the four German regions of Berlin Frankfurt FreiburgTübingen and Göttingen with a total of 34 million euros.