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Chet Moritz

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Chet T. Moritz
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Neural engineer, neuroscientist, physiologist, academic and researcher
TitleCherng Jia and Elizabeth Yun Hwang Endowed Professorship of Spinal Cord Injury Research
AwardsEUREKA Award, National Institutes of Health
Young Faculty Award, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Allen Distinguished Investigator, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
International Research Consortium on Spinal Cord Injury, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
Academic background
EducationB.S., Zoology
Ph.D., Integrative Biology
Alma materUniversity of Washington
University of California, Berkeley
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Washington

Chet T. Moritz is an American neural engineer, neuroscientist, physiologist, and academic researcher. He is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and holds joint appointments in the School of Medicine departments of Rehabilitation Medicine, and Physiology & Biophysics at the University of Washington.[1]

Moritz's research is focused on neurotechnology including stimulation to restore function after brain and spinal cord injury. His work also includes brain-computer interfaces to control muscle and spinal stimulation.[2] His discoveries have been featured in Nature, MSNBC national news,[3] Wired,[4] Popular Mechanics[5] and local TV news[6] and community outreach videos.[7] He has also been quoted in the New York Times,[8] Newsweek, Scientific American, Forbes, and Science News,[9] and in a news story by Nature.[10]

Education

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Moritz graduated with a bachelor's degree in Zoology from the University of Washington in 1998. He then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned his Doctoral Degree in Integrative Biology in 2003. From 2003 till 2004, he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado, and subsequently rejoined the University of Washington as a Senior Fellow.[11]

Career

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Following his Postdoctoral fellowship, Moritz joined the faculty at the University of Washington as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics in 2009, and was promoted to Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine in 2010. Along with this appointment, he held secondary appointments as assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014, and later joined the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering in 2018. Since 2010, he has been a member of the Graduate Faculty, and a mentor for the Neuroscience Graduate Program.[1]

Research

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Moritz has worked in the area of neurotechnology,[12][13] neuromodulation, brain-computer interfaces,[14] and home rehabilitation physical therapy.

Brain computer interfaces

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Moritz conducted a study in 2008 demonstrating that a brain-computer interface can be used to control stimulation of paralyzed muscles and restore movement.[12] This has spawned several successful human trials of this concept in people with spinal cord injury. With Alik Widge, Moritz also demonstrated that cognitive areas of the pre-frontal cortex could be used to limbic stimulation[15][16] paving the way for psychiatric neuroprostheses and an allowed patent.[17] With David Bjanes, Moritz demonstrated a new way to provide sensory feedback directly to the brain.[18]

Neurotechnology

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Moritz's team demonstrated that stimulation of the spinal cord could lead to lasting improvements in hand and arm function that persisted beyond stimulation.[19] This demonstration of ‘engineered neuroplasticity’ paved the way for human trials of spinal cord stimulation. He and Fatma Inanici's recent studies regarding transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation indicate that non-invasive transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the spinal networks is very effective in restoring movement and function of the hands and arm for people with both complete paralysis and long-term spinal cord injury.[20][21] This work lead directly to a multi-site clinical trial with ONWARD medical, for which Moritz serves as one of two co-PIs for the study. Parallel work is also exploring optogenetic stimulation of the spinal cord with collaborators Polina Anikeeva and Sarah Mondello.[22]

Motor unit physiology and biomechanics

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In his studies of motor unit physiology, Moritz focused on experimentally measured force variability across a wide range of forces to improve the ability of a motor unit model to predict steadiness in the hand.[23] He also published a paper in 2004 demonstrating the contributions of feed-forward anticipation and neuro-mechanical reaction when humans encounter surprise, expected, and random changes from a soft elastic surface to a hard surface underfoot.[24] Furthermore, he studied implications regarding muscle pre-stretch and elastic energy storage in locomotion.[25]

Home rehabilitation

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Moritz and colleagues demonstrated that surface electromyography (sEMG) can be used to control a therapy video game using activation of weak or spastic muscles.[26] Termed NeuroGame Therapy (NGT), the team showed improve wrist control in children with cerebral palsy (CP)[27] and tested the approach in older adults following stroke.[28]

Awards and honors

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Bibliography

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  • Moritz, C. T., Barry, B. K., Pascoe, M. A., & Enoka, R. M. (2005). Discharge rate variability influences the variation in force fluctuations across the working range of a hand muscle. Journal of Neurophysiology, 93(5), 2449–2459.
  • Moritz, C. T., Perlmutter, S. I., & Fetz, E. E. (2008). Direct control of paralysed muscles by cortical neurons. Nature, 456(7222), 639–642.
  • Kasten, M. R., Sunshine, M. D., & Moritz, C. T. (2012). Cervical intraspinal microstimulation improves forelimb motor recovery after spinal contusion injury. International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society.
  • Widge, A. S., & Moritz, C. T. (2014). Pre-frontal control of closed-loop limbic neurostimulation by rodents using a brain–computer interface. Journal of neural engineering, 11(2), 024001.
  • Inanici, F., Samejima, S., Gad, P., Edgerton, V. R., Hofstetter, C. P., & Moritz, C. T. (2018). Transcutaneous electrical spinal stimulation promotes long-term recovery of upper extremity function in chronic tetraplegia. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 26(6), 1272–1278.
  • Bjånes, D. A., & Moritz, C. T. (2019). A robust encoding scheme for delivering artificial sensory information via direct brain stimulation. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 27(10), 1994–2004.
  • Inanici, F., Brighton, L. N., Samejima, S., Hofstetter, C. P., & Moritz, C. T. (2021). Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation restores hand and arm function after spinal cord injury. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 29, 310–319.
  • Samejima, S., Khorasani, A., Ranganathan, V., Nakahara, J., Tolley, N. M., Boissenin, A., ... & Moritz, C. T. (2021). Brain-Computer-Spinal Interface Restores Upper Limb Function After Spinal Cord Injury. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 29, 1233–1242.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Chet Moritz".
  2. ^ "Chet Moritz".
  3. ^ "Device revives paralyzed muscles in monkeys". NBC News. 15 October 2008.
  4. ^ Levy, Max G. "A New Way to Restore Hand Mobility—With an Electrified Patch". Wired.
  5. ^ "Researchers develop a new treatment for spinal cord injuries". 13 January 2021.
  6. ^ "University of Washington seeing success with nerve stimulation trial". 14 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Dr. Chet Moritz W2W 2017". 17 January 2018.
  8. ^ Carey, Benedict (31 October 2018). "Once Paralyzed, Three Men Take Steps Again With Spinal Implant". The New York Times.
  9. ^ "New treatment allows some people with spinal cord injury to regain hand and arm function".
  10. ^ Warren, Matthew (2018). "Three people with spinal-cord injuries regain control of their leg muscles". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-07251-x. S2CID 80955607.
  11. ^ "Chet Moritz, PhD".
  12. ^ a b Moritz, Chet T.; Perlmutter, Steve I.; Fetz, Eberhard E. (2008). "Direct control of paralysed muscles by cortical neurons". Nature. 456 (7222): 639–642. Bibcode:2008Natur.456..639M. doi:10.1038/nature07418. PMC 3159518. PMID 18923392.
  13. ^ Jackson, A.; Moritz, C. T.; Mavoori, J.; Lucas, T. H.; Fetz, E. E. (2006). "The neurochip BCI: towards a neural prosthesis for upper limb function". IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. 14 (2): 187–190. doi:10.1109/TNSRE.2006.875547. PMID 16792290. S2CID 16332802.
  14. ^ "Hybrid system for treating mental and emotional disorders with responsive brain stimulation".
  15. ^ Widge, Alik S.; Dougherty, Darin D.; Moritz, Chet T. (2014). "Affective brain-computer interfaces as enabling technology for responsive psychiatric stimulation". Brain-Computer Interfaces. 1 (2): 126–136. doi:10.1080/2326263X.2014.912885. PMC 4286358. PMID 25580443.
  16. ^ Widge, A. S.; Moritz, C. T. (2014). "Pre-frontal control of closed-loop limbic neurostimulation by rodents using a brain-computer interface". Journal of Neural Engineering. 11 (2): 024001. Bibcode:2014JNEng..11b4001W. doi:10.1088/1741-2560/11/2/024001. PMC 4394990. PMID 24608127.
  17. ^ "1. WO2015164477 - HYBRID SYSTEM FOR TREATING MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL DISORDERS WITH RESPONSIVE BRAIN STIMULATION".
  18. ^ Bjanes, D. A.; Moritz, C. T. (2019). "A Robust Encoding Scheme for Delivering Artificial Sensory Information via Direct Brain Stimulation". IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. 27 (10): 1994–2004. doi:10.1109/TNSRE.2019.2936739. PMID 31443035. S2CID 201631170.
  19. ^ Kasten, M. R.; Sunshine, M. D.; Secrist, E. S.; Horner, P. J.; Moritz, C. T. (2013). "Therapeutic intraspinal microstimulation improves forelimb function after cervical contusion injury". Journal of Neural Engineering. 10 (4): 044001. Bibcode:2013JNEng..10d4001K. doi:10.1088/1741-2560/10/4/044001. PMC 3748939. PMID 23715242.
  20. ^ Inanici, F.; Brighton, L. N.; Samejima, S.; Hofstetter, C. P.; Moritz, C. T. (2021). "Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation Restores Hand and Arm Function After Spinal Cord Injury". IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. 29: 310–319. doi:10.1109/TNSRE.2021.3049133. PMID 33400652. S2CID 230784607.
  21. ^ "DISCOVER".
  22. ^ Lu, Chi; Park, Seongjun; Richner, Thomas J.; Derry, Alexander; Brown, Imogen; Hou, Chong; Rao, Siyuan; Kang, Jeewoo; Moritz, Chet T.; Fink, Yoel; Anikeeva, Polina (2017). "Flexible and stretchable nanowire-coated fibers for optoelectronic probing of spinal cord circuits". Science Advances. 3 (3): e1600955. Bibcode:2017SciA....3E0955L. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600955. PMC 5371423. PMID 28435858.
  23. ^ Moritz, Chet T.; Barry, Benjamin K.; Pascoe, Michael A.; Enoka, Roger M. (2005). "Discharge Rate Variability Influences the Variation in Force Fluctuations Across the Working Range of a Hand Muscle". Journal of Neurophysiology. 93 (5): 2449–2459. doi:10.1152/jn.01122.2004. PMID 15615827.
  24. ^ Moritz, Chet T.; Farley, Claire T. (2004). "Passive dynamics change leg mechanics for an unexpected surface during human hopping". Journal of Applied Physiology. 97 (4): 1313–1322. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00393.2004. PMID 15169748. S2CID 6551948.
  25. ^ Moritz, Chet T.; Farley, Claire T. (2005). "Human hopping on very soft elastic surfaces: implications for muscle pre-stretch and elastic energy storage in locomotion". Journal of Experimental Biology. 208 (5): 939–949. doi:10.1242/jeb.01472. PMID 15755892. S2CID 18423169.
  26. ^ Donoso Brown, Elena V.; McCoy, Sarah Westcott; Fechko, Amber S.; Price, Robert; Gilbertson, Torey; Moritz, Chet T. (2014). "Preliminary Investigation of an Electromyography-Controlled Video Game as a Home Program for Persons in the Chronic Phase of Stroke Recovery". Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 95 (8): 1461–1469. doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2014.02.025. PMC 4337946. PMID 24657112.
  27. ^ Rios, D. C.; Gilbertson, T.; McCoy, S. W.; Price, R.; Gutman, K.; Miller, K. E. F.; Fechko, A.; Moritz, C. T. (2013). "NeuroGame Therapy to improve wrist control in children with cerebral palsy: A case series". Developmental Neurorehabilitation. 16 (6): 398–409. doi:10.3109/17518423.2013.766818. PMID 23617243. S2CID 17152199.
  28. ^ Donoso Brown, E. V.; Dudgeon, B. J.; Gutman, K.; Moritz, C. T.; McCoy, S. W. (2015). "Understanding upper extremity home programs and the use of gaming technology for persons after stroke". Disability and Health Journal. 8 (4): 507–513. doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2015.03.007. PMC 4570873. PMID 25953349.
  29. ^ "President's Awards".
  30. ^ Mondello, S. E.; Kasten, M. R.; Horner, P. J.; Moritz, C. T. (2014). "Therapeutic intraspinal stimulation to generate activity and promote long-term recovery". Frontiers in Neuroscience. 8: 21. doi:10.3389/fnins.2014.00021. PMC 3936503. PMID 24578680.
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