The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Providence, R.I. opened its new Research Center of Excellence for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology (CfNN), according to a press release.
The CfNN received a funding grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development Service in June 2012 for $900,000 per year for the next 5 years. The project is a collaboration among the Providence VA Medical Center, Brown Institute for Brain Science at Brown University, Butler Hospital in Providence, Lifespan and Massachusetts General Hospital.
“This new Research Center of Excellence is just one more example of the VA’s commitment to cutting-edge research to optimize functions for veterans with disabilities,” Robert A. Petzel, MD, the under secretary for health in the Veterans Health Administration, stated in the release. “This collaborative research reflects our continuing commitment to innovative use of technologies that optimize function for veterans with disabilities.”
The center will focus on the development of brain computer interfaces for people with paralysis or limb loss, prosthetic limb evaluation and translation for use, robotic and imaging-guided neurorehabilitation technology and testing and neuromedulation technology for neurorehabilitation of pain, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“The collaboration that the Department of Veterans Affairs has brought together in the CfNN highlights the extraordinary concentration of expertise in Providence in brain science research and treatment,” Edward Wing, MD, dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown University, stated in the release. “Each of the four project areas at the CfNN has made great strides in advancing research.”
