ECHOES

Start date: 1 October 2023

End date: 30 September 2028

Grant agreement ID: 101077693

By contracting our muscles, we move and interact with the world. In turn, activated muscles act as signal relays for the neural inputs they receive. Not only do muscles receive information that determines how they need to contract (and thus how we move), but they also receive a rich set of neural information that originates in the central nervous system and travels through nerves and muscles without directly altering motor commands. This "null motor space" in muscles may represent a unique opportunity to explore the human central nervous system in an unobtrusive, spatially selective and robust manner, thus overcoming the most critical inherent limitations of currently available non-invasive neuroimaging technologies. To test this novel concept, fundamental research is needed to develop methods to extract, separate and interpret non-motor neural projections to human muscles. ECHOES will take advantage of recent advances in decoding spinal outputs to muscles to develop a theoretical and experimental framework to unveil the "motor null space" in human muscles. The project will then demonstrate the potential benefits of the extracted neural information in three scientific fields with growing societal and clinical impact: human-machine interfaces, targeted brain neuromodulation and diagnosis of movement disorders.
I expect the project's multidisciplinary research programme to improve our understanding of the origin and relevance of neural signals generated by the human brain and spinal cord. This will greatly enhance future research aimed at understanding, utilising and modulating human neural activity by providing a robust, minimally invasive and unique neuroimaging technology with unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. By achieving these goals, ECHOES technology will enable the development of new applications for the clinical and industrial fields.

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