Alberta’s SMART brain platform to go national

EDMONTON – Vivian K. Mushahwar (pictured), professor in the University of Alberta’s Department of Medicine, Canada Research Chair in Functional Restoration, and director of SMART Technology Innovations, has been awarded a 2021 Platform Support Grant of $3.14M from Brain Canada to expand the U of A’s Sensory Motor Adaptive Rehabilitation Technology (SMART) network into a national platform.

Mushahwar originally founded the SMART network, bringing together more than 100 U of A researchers and learners from a variety of disciplines including kinesiology, neuroscience, engineering, surgery, rehabilitation, computer science and social sciences to develop smart medical devices and innovative rehabilitative interventions to improve functionality and quality of life for people with neural injuries and diseases.

The SMART network is a state-of-the-art centre for researchers and a world leader in motor-control neural interfaces, neuroinflammation, machine learning, prosthetic interventions and innovations in remote care.

Brain Canada’s Platform Support Grants are awarded to teams that are creating and enhancing centralized shared resources to increase access to equipment, expertise, data and protocols across research networks.

“We believe that the best way to drive innovation is for scientists across disciplines to work together,” says Viviane Poupon, Brain Canada president and CEO. “By providing this unique kind of support for platforms in Canada, we help create the conditions for collaboration which will ultimately translate into improved health and quality of life for Canadians.”

Mushahwar adds, “With this funding from Brain Canada, the SMART platform is poised to play a critical role in advancing discoveries and driving the development of neurotechnology and neurorehabilitation interventions. It will allow us to become a much-needed national resource to improve the lives of millions of Canadians and enable them to participate fully in society and the workplace.”