Houston Methodist Academic Institute Annual Report 2021

Page 32

FROM DISCOVERY TO CLINIC

Restorative Medicine Houston Methodist remains at the cutting edge of regenerative medicine by developing a range of medical and biotherapeutic products that help restore the functionality of impaired organs and tissues. These restorative solutions address challenges, including protecting transplanted tissues from rejection, restoring sensorimotor function in people with neuromuscular disorders and repairing broken bones.

Houston Methodist and Rice University Launch

Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces

Gavin W. Britz, MD

Behnaam Aazhang, PhD

Neurosurgery’s history of

of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who also directs

cutting diseases out of

the neuroengineering initiative. “Several core members,

the brain is morphing into

myself included, have existing collaborations with our

a future in which implanting

colleagues at Houston Methodist in the area of neural

technology into the brain

prosthetics. The creation of the Center for Translational

may help restore function,

Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces is an exciting development

movement, cognition and memory after patients suffer strokes, spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders. Rice University and Houston Methodist have forged a partnership to launch the Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces, a collaboration that brings together scientists, clinicians, engineers and surgeons to solve clinical problems with neurorobotics.

toward achieving our common goals.” The physical space for the center’s operation includes more than 25,000 square feet of Rice Neuroengineering Initiative laboratories and experimental spaces in the university’s BioScience Research Collaborative, as well as an extensive build-out underway at Houston Methodist’s West Pavilion location that’s expected to be completed late in 2021.

“This will be an accelerator for discovery. This center will

The Houston Methodist facility will include operating rooms

be a human laboratory where all of us — neurosurgeons,

and a human laboratory where ongoing patient/volunteer

neuroengineers, neurobiologists — can work together to

diagnosis and assessment, device fabrication and testing

solve biomedical problems in the brain and spinal cord.

and education and training opportunities are planned.

And it’s a collaboration that can finally offer some hope and options for the millions of people worldwide who suffer from brain diseases and injuries,” said center Co-Director Gavin W. Britz, MD, Candy and Tom Knudson Distinguished Centennial Chair in Neurosurgery at Houston Methodist. Houston Methodist neurosurgeons, seven engineers from the Rice Neuroengineering Initiative and additional physicians and faculty from both institutions form the center’s core team. The center also plans to hire additional engineers who will have joint appointments at Houston Methodist and Rice. Key focus areas include spinal cord injury, memory and epilepsy studies, and cortical motor/sensation conditions.

“This partnership is a perfect blend of talent,” said Rice’s Marcia O’Malley, PhD, a core member of the new center. “We will be able to design studies to test the efficacy of inventions and therapies and rely on patients and volunteers who want to help us test our ideas. The possibilities are limitless.” Houston Methodist neurobiologist Philip J. Horner, PhD, describes the lab as “a merging of wetware with hardware,” where robotics, computers, electronic arrays and other technology — the hardware — is incorporated into the human brain or spinal cord — the wetware. The centerpiece of this working laboratory is a zero-gravity harness connected

“The Rice Neuroengineering Initiative was formed with

to a walking track with cameras and sensors to record

this type of partnership in mind,” said center Co-Director

feedback, brain activity and other data.

Behnaam Aazhang, PhD, Rice’s J.S. Abercrombie Professor


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Faculty and Research Development

0
page 59

Graduate Medical Education

4min
pages 60-64

Engineering Medicine (EnMed

1min
page 57

Neural Control of Organ Degeneration and Regeneration (NeuralCODR) Training Program

1min
page 58

Houston Methodist Hospital’s New Paula and Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III Tower Offers the Most Advanced Treatments and Innovations Available

1min
page 53

Can Devices Provide A New Treatment Option for Glioblastoma?

2min
page 52

Houston Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation & Education (MITIESM

1min
page 50

Novel Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Halts Tumor Growth in Deadly Ovarian and Pancreatic Cancers

2min
pages 48-49

Siemens Healthineers and Houston Methodist Imaging Innovation Hub Empowers Researchers to Push Boundaries

3min
pages 46-47

Expanding the RNAcore to Encompass the Entire Cycle of a Cure

3min
pages 44-45

Dissolvable Implants Enhance the Body’s Ability to Heal Broken Bones

1min
pages 36-37

Devising a Novel Combination Treatment for Aggressive Double-hit Lymphoma

0
page 43

Non-invasive Spinal Stimulation Enables Paralyzed People to Stand Unassisted

1min
pages 34-35

Houston Methodist and Rice University Launch Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces

4min
pages 32-33

Breast Cancer Survivors Find a Way to Maintain Healthy Lifestyles and Lose Weight on Their Phones

2min
page 30

The Ann Kimball and John W. Johnson Center for Cellular Therapeutics

1min
page 16

COVID-19 Spotlights Social Determinants of Health

3min
pages 24-25

Mobile App Improves Joint Replacement Surgery Outcomes

1min
page 31

Paula and Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III

2min
pages 20-21

Jerold B. Katz Academy of Translational Research

2min
pages 22-23

Houston Methodist Researchers Step Up and Face the Challenges of COVID-19 Virus

4min
pages 26-27

The Fondren Food & Health Alliance and The Fondren Inflammation Collaboration

1min
page 17
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