Background

Gregoire Courtine is a Professor of Neuroscience at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and co-director of NeuroRestore, a translational neuroscience center. His research has produced some of the most dramatic demonstrations of brain-computer interface technology — enabling paralyzed patients to walk again through thought alone.

The Digital Bridge

Courtine’s landmark achievement is the brain-spine interface, a wireless “digital bridge” that re-establishes communication between the brain and spinal cord after injury. The system uses WIMAGINE implants above the brain’s motor cortex to decode walking intentions in real time, then converts those signals into electrical stimulation patterns delivered to the spinal cord. In 2023, a Nature publication demonstrated that patient Gert-Jan could stand, walk, and climb stairs using the system.

Clinical Translation

The brain-spine interface technology has been licensed to ONWARD Medical (Euronext: ONWD) for commercial development. With support from the European Innovation Council, the team is working to make the digital bridge available as a clinical therapy worldwide.

Paradigm Shift

Courtine’s work demonstrates that brain-computer interfaces are not limited to communication and computer control — they can directly restore lost motor function by bridging damaged neural pathways. This expands the BCI addressable market from communication devices to the much larger spinal cord injury rehabilitation space.