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Gerald E. Loeb on Neuroprosthetics

Interview on Bionics with Dr. Gerald E. Loeb, Professor on Biomedical Engineering and Neurology at the University of Southern California in L.A., USA. He has written hundreds of scientific articles and holds over 70 patents on medical devices. He has conducted pioneer work on motor, visual, and auditory neuroprostheses, from basic and translational research to entrepreneurship for making such technologies available to patients ( https://viterbi.usc.edu/directory/faculty/Loeb/Gerald ).
In this interview, we discuss his career path, contributions to different neuroprostheses, and the challenges faced during clinical implementation and commercialization. We also discuss the reasons to conduct a Ph.D. and subsequent career options. We finalize with a discussion on the human body as a machine (or not), and on descriptive and normative views of our jobs in society.

Podcast: Conversations on Bionics and Pain ( https://bit.ly/34KOBfK ) by Dr. Max Ortiz Catalan ( https://bit.ly/3jTck2B ), Director of the Center for Bionics and Pain Research ( https://cbpr.se ).
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Episode timestamps
00:00 Coming up
02:31 Intro to CBP
03:40 Summary
06:28 Career path
10:41 Switch from NHS to Academia
12:51 Motor neuroprosthesis – The Bionic Neuron (BION)
17:40 Challenges to commercialize medical devices
27:08 Explanting the device
29:58 Hearing neuroprosthesis – Cochlear implants
34:30 Visual neuroprosthesis – Cortical visual implants
39:15 Motor neuroprosthesis – FreeHand System
40:49 Sensing Touch and entrepreneurship – SynTouch’s BioTac ( https://syntouchinc.com )
53:10 Commercializing research and intellectual property (patents)
1:00:05 Provisional patents
1:06:52 When to move on – changing to new fields
1:10:00 Difference between Academia and Industry
1:13:01 New technologies for neural interfacing
1:15:30 Restoring touch in hand prostheses
1:24:33 Why doing a Ph.D.? and then?
1:28:45 Upcoming book
1:31:30 The human body as a machine
1:39:34 Solving problems or creating markets?