NIH New Innovator Award recipient studying the use of artificial intelligence for paralysis

The NIH has awarded High-Risk, High-Reward grants to three Emory University researchers pursuing highly innovative research that has the potential for broad impact. The program this year awarded a total of 106 grants totaling approximately $329 million over five years to support research proposals that, due to their inherent risk, may struggle in the traditional peer review process despite their transformative potential. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is awarding Chethan Pandarinath the 2021 Director's New Innovator Award, an honor that recognizes exceptionally creative early career investigators. Pandarinath, an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (Coulter BME), is using artificial intelligence to build brain-machine interfaces to assist people with paralysis, specifically those with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Part of the NIH's High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, Pandarinath's $2.4 million award grant will support his team's launch of a clinical trial this fall, implanting sensors into the brains of paralyzed people with ALS.