Neuroscientist wins award for prosthesis research

An alumna of the School of Systems Engineering, Dr Maitreyee Wairagkar, has been awarded the Peter and Patricia Gruber International Research Award in Neuroscience for her achievements in the field as an early-career researcher.

She was awarded $25,000 as one of three recipients of the prize from the Gruber Foundation, an American philanthropic organisation based out of Yale University, Connecticut, in association with the Society for Neuroscience.

On the award, Dr Wairagkar said:

“I am truly honoured to receive this award. This is a reflection of the support I’ve received from my mentors and colleagues, specifically Slawomir Nasuto and Yoshikatsu Hayashi. It’s deeply rewarding and gratifying to see my work over the years on assistive neurotechnology acknowledged in this way. This recognition encourages me to continue pushing the boundaries of brain-computer interface research and reinforces my pursuit to driving neurotechnology forward.”

The award recognises Dr Wairagkar’s current work as a project scientist working on ‘brain-to-voice’ technology at the Neuroprosthetics Lab at the University of California, Davis, her past studies including her doctorate at the University of Reading (Dr Wairagkar graduated in 2019) The technology she has helped develop has been showcased at The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and demonstrated live at the Science Museum, London.

Recognition of early-career excellence in the field

Dr Wairagkar, who chose to study her MEng and PhD in AI and cybernetics at Reading as it ‘was the only university in the world offering such a cutting-edge multidisciplinary degree’, researches the emerging field of neuroprostheses. These prosthetic devices aim to restore speech and movement to individuals with neurological impairments or illnesses such ALS or strokes through the use of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology. These devices convert neural signals into actions, allowing a user to, for example, control a computer without physical input needed.

Professor Slawomir Nasuto (Dept. of Biomedical Engineering), Dr Wairagkar’s PhD supervisor said: “I am very pleased to see that Maitreyee is receiving recognition for her work, including her doctoral studies undertaken here at the University. This latest award from the Gruber Foundation is very well-deserved.”

Wairagkar has previously been awarded runner up place in the Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science and won the India UK Achievers Honours, an award for Indian students at British universities. Read our alumni interview with Dr Wairagkar.

The award ceremony took place on 16 Nov at the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego, California.