Can Machine Learning Awaken Coma Patients? SBU News

I. Memming Park, Stony Brook's 2019 Discovery Prize winner, built his first artificial neural network when he was in middle school. That long-held interest in how the brain works influenced his award-winning research titled, "Personalized Landscape of Unconsciousness." Park, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology & Behavior and a faculty member of the Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation, says his research, to understand the brains of coma patients using machine learning methods and neurotechnologies, stems from a spontaneous discussion with Dr. Charles Mikell, Stony Brook Medicine faculty. Mikell was already recording signals, with his own data analysis software, from human brains during surgeries he performed. "We were interested in these brain implants for seizure treatments," said Park.