NSF DARE-Transforming modeling in neurorehabilitation: Four threads for catalyzing progress

Francisco J Valero-Cuevas; James Finley; Amy Orsborn; Natalie Fung; Jennifer L Hicks; He Helen Huang; David Reinkensmeyer; Nicolas Schweighofer; Douglas Weber; Katherine M Steele

doi:10.1186/s12984-024-01324-x

NSF DARE-Transforming modeling in neurorehabilitation: Four threads for catalyzing progress

J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2024 Apr 3;21(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s12984-024-01324-x.

Authors

Francisco J Valero-Cuevas^{1

2

3}, James Finley⁴, Amy Orsborn^{5

6

7}, Natalie Fung⁸, Jennifer L Hicks⁹, He Helen Huang^{10

11}, David Reinkensmeyer¹², Nicolas Schweighofer^{13

4}, Douglas Weber¹⁴, Katherine M Steele¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, 1042 Downey Way, Los Angeles, 90089, CA, USA. valero@usc.edu.
² Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California, 1540 Alcazar St 155, Los Angeles, 90033, CA, USA. valero@usc.edu.
³ Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, 941 Bloom Walk, Los Angeles, 90089, CA, USA. valero@usc.edu.
⁴ Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California, 1540 Alcazar St 155, Los Angeles, 90033, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Washington, 185 W Stevens Way NE, Box 352500, Seattle, 98195, WA, USA.
⁶ Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, 3720 15th Ave NE, Box 355061, Seattle, 98195, WA, USA.
⁷ Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, 3018 Western Ave, Seattle, 98121, WA, USA.
⁸ Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, 941 Bloom Walk, Los Angeles, 90089, CA, USA.
⁹ Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, 94305, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University, 1840 Entrepreneur Dr Suite 4130, Raleigh, 27606, NC, USA.
¹¹ Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 333 S Columbia St, Chapel Hill, 27514, NC, USA.
¹² Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCI Samueli School of Engineering, 3225 Engineering Gateway, Irvine, 92697, CA, USA.
¹³ Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, 1042 Downey Way, Los Angeles, 90089, CA, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, B12 Scaife Hall, Pittsburgh, 15213, PA, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, 3900 E Stevens Way NE, Box 352600, Seattle, 98195, WA, USA.

Abstract

We present an overview of the Conference on Transformative Opportunities for Modeling in Neurorehabilitation held in March 2023. It was supported by the Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering (DARE) program from the National Science Foundation's Engineering Biology and Health Cluster. The conference brought together experts and trainees from around the world to discuss critical questions, challenges, and opportunities at the intersection of computational modeling and neurorehabilitation to understand, optimize, and improve clinical translation of neurorehabilitation. We organized the conference around four key, relevant, and promising Focus Areas for modeling: Adaptation & Plasticity, Personalization, Human-Device Interactions, and Modeling 'In-the-Wild'. We identified four common threads across the Focus Areas that, if addressed, can catalyze progress in the short, medium, and long terms. These were: (i) the need to capture and curate appropriate and useful data necessary to develop, validate, and deploy useful computational models (ii) the need to create multi-scale models that span the personalization spectrum from individuals to populations, and from cellular to behavioral levels (iii) the need for algorithms that extract as much information from available data, while requiring as little data as possible from each client (iv) the insistence on leveraging readily available sensors and data systems to push model-driven treatments from the lab, and into the clinic, home, workplace, and community. The conference archive can be found at (dare2023.usc.edu). These topics are also extended by three perspective papers prepared by trainees and junior faculty, clinician researchers, and federal funding agency representatives who attended the conference.

Keywords: Adaptation; Big-data; Computational neuroscience; Conference; Human-device interactions; Personalization; Plasticity; Rehabilitation; Wearables.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Algorithms
Computer Simulation
Disabled Persons*
Humans
Neurological Rehabilitation*
Software

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding