Douglas Weber
Akhtar and Bhutta Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Neuroscience Institute
Douglas Weber is broadly interested in understanding the role of sensory feedback in supporting and regulating a wide range of perceptual, motor, cognitive, and autonomic functions. His research combines fundamental neuroscience and engineering research to understand physiological mechanisms underlying sensory perception, feedback control of movement, and neuroplasticity in sensorimotor systems. Knowledge gained from these studies is being applied to invent new technologies and therapies for enhancing sensory and motor functions after stroke, spinal cord injury, or limb loss. These principles are also being applied to develop wearable devices for enhancing sensory, motor, and cognitive functions in healthy humans. He is committed to transitioning outputs of his academic research into practical technologies that support real-world applications, and he works actively with industrial partners to bridge the gap from bench to market.
A founding member of DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office, Weber created and managed a portfolio of neurotechnology research programs to support the White House BRAIN initiative, launched by President Obama in 2013. He created DARPA’s HAPTIX, ElectRx, and TNT programs, which are developing implantable, injectable, and wearable neurotechnologies that restore natural motor and sensory functions for amputees, enable novel and drug-free therapies for treating inflammatory disease and mental health disorders, and promote plasticity in the brain to enhance learning of complex cognitive skills.
Weber completed post-doctoral training in the Centre for Neuroscience at the University of Alberta. He holds eight issued United States patents and has published extensively on a wide range of topics spanning sensorimotor neurophysiology, biomechanics, neural engineering, and physical medicine. He has mentored over 100 undergraduate, graduate and medical students and several post-doctoral fellows.
Improving the Interface Between Humans and Machines
Education
2001 Ph.D., Bioengineering, Arizona State University
2000 MS, Bioengineering, Arizona State University
1994 BS, Biomedical Engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering
Research Interests
Media mentions
CMU Engineering
Boosting oxygenation for transplanted cell-based therapies
To advance cell-based therapies, researchers have identified a novel device that makes on-site oxygen for biological cells transplanted inside the body.
CMU Engineering
ARPA-H fast tracks development of new cancer implant tech
ARPA-H has awarded $45 million to a multi-institutional team of researchers to rapidly develop sense-and-respond implant technology that could slash U.S. cancer-related deaths.
Wired
Weber emphasizes importance of sensory feedback for prosthetic limbs
MechE’s Doug Weber discusses the future of bionic limbs and their ability to receive sensory feedback.
The New York Times
Weber discusses tech that restores movement for stroke patients
MechE’s Douglas Weber was mentioned in The New York Times for the research he and other researchers are working on which looks at restoring mobility in stroke patients.
CMU Engineering
New hope for people living with paralysis after stroke
Spinal cord stimulation technology developed by Douglas Weber in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh offers new hope for people living with impairments that would otherwise be considered permanent.
Mechanical Engineering
Engineering neurotechnology for paralysis after stroke
CMU and Pitt collaborators will develop and test an implantable system to electrically stimulates the spinal cord of stroke survivors to reduce arm and hand motor impairment.
Psychology Today
Weber featured on first human brain implant
MechE’s Doug Weber is among the team monitoring the first human implant of a brain-computer interface (BCI). The BCI was implanted at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. The goal of the trial is to evaluate safety and efficacy in helping patients with ALS.
Bloomberg
Weber’s NIH trial covered
MechE’s Douglas Weber was referenced in Bloomberg after an NIH-funded trial that he is leading with David Putrino of Mount Sinai placed a stentrode implant in its first patient.
CMU Engineering
Sensing signals in paralyzed muscles
Doug Weber and an international team of researchers detected electrical signals in paralyzed muscles, which could be used to control robotic assistive devices.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Weber study on brain implant featured
MechE’s Doug Weber recently had his research study on a brain implant that will allow paralyzed people to use a computer with their thoughts was featured in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Mechanical Engineering
Bridging campuses, increasing opportunities in STEM
CMU and Pitt will offer a joint MS-to-PhD program focused on AI, robotics, and neural engineering to increase the participation of underrepresented students in science and engineering.
FierceBiotech
CMU and collaborators awarded NIH grant
In collaboration with CMU, UPMC, and the Mount Sinai Health System, Synchron received a $10 million National Institutes of Health grant to begin a trial of their brain-computer interface, reports FierceBiotech, BioSpace, Medical Device Network, and Mobi Health News.