4 minute read
ROCHELLE AUBRY: ENGINEERING THE BRAIN
STUDENT IN FOCUS
“Although much is yet unknown about its full capabilities, we are convinced that neurotechnology will improve quality of life of millions of people,” says Rochelle Aubry, master’s student in Biochemical Engineering Technology at Group T Campus and leader of NeuroTech Leuven. With her teammates, she wants to enthuse both students and the public about the unprecedented possibilities of neurotechnology.
NeuroTech Leuven is the youngest of now seven enterprising student teams working with heart and soul on an innovative product or project with which they want to compete with the best teams in the world. At the same time, they also strive to raise awareness about sustainability and how technology can contribute to a better world.
“Our team consists of 15 master students from different faculties,” Rochelle explains. “We pool our knowledge and skills in neuroscience, advanced electronics, signal analysis, machine learning, artificial intelligence and biochemistry as well as medicine, psychology and economics. Our common goal is to understand the human brain, visualise its processes and repair or improve its functions. We are not doing this for our own glory. We want to bring the neurotechnology that still scares many people today closer to the public.”
Roots
Rochelle was born and raised in Mexico. She studied Biochemical Engineering for two years at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico City and then crossed the ocean to continue her studies at KU Leuven-Group T Campus. What drives a young Mexican to trade her familiar surroundings for faraway Leuven? “Ambition and curiosity,” reads the answer. “Ambition to get a degree at a highly ranked foreign university. And curiosity about my roots. My grandfather was a Belgian who emigrated at a youthful age to seek his fortune in Mexico. In the French-speaking part of Belgium, you can still find plenty of Aubrys related to my grandfather. Studying in Leuven gives me the opportunity to get to know better the people and culture I come from.”
At a job fair in Leuven, Rochelle met Anthony Vorias, an ambitious master’s student in Nano Science and Neurotechnology who was looking for supporters for the NeuroTech student team he had founded. He planned to participate in the international NTX Student Club Competition from September 2022 to April 2023. “In spring 2022, Anthony wanted to put the new team on the map with a big event,” Rochelle continued. “That challenge appealed to me and so I became one of the first members of the fledgling NeuroTech Leuven. I was immediately promoted to Event Manager with the task of organising the first Mindseed.”
Mindseed
Rochelle’s baptism of fire on 27 April 2022 was an instant hit. At least five experts explained the latest developments in neuroscience and technology. ‘Engineering the extra-ordinary’ ran like a thread through the presentations by high-tech companies such as Medtronic, ReVision and Epihunter, the Leuven research centre NERF and the innovation platform Lucidity. “Most of the topics were related to mental health,” says Rochelle. “That in itself is not surprising because an estimated one in six people on this planet suffers from some kind of brain disease. Dementia, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s are widely known, but there are plenty of other neurodegenerative diseases. Neurotechnologists can not only record or measure brain activity but also stimulate or restore it. The most appealing to the imagination is the ‘brain on-a-chip’ or in vitro generation of neurons.”
BrainBrowsR
On 25 April 2023, Rochelle hosted the second edition of Mindseed. There, the team unpacked a first: the BrainBrowsR, developed for the NTX Student Club Competition. “BrainBrowsR is an example of neural communication technology,” Rochelle explains. “Patients with ALS, the disease suffered by physicist and cosmologist Stephan Hawking, learn how to communicate with a computer via brain signals. We developed a computer stack that enables ALS patients and people with locked-in syndrome to be active on social media. By using SSVEP (Steady State Visually Evoked Potentials), BrainBrowsR analyses brain signals and determines what the user is focusing on. You could describe it as navigating the web by using your brain.” It earned the team a deserving 5th place among one hundred finalists in the NTX Student Club Competition.
As team leader, Rochelle has set two priorities for this academic year. On the one hand, she wants more focus on biochemical and biotechnological aspects. “Our brain, it’s not just data, it’s living matter”, she notes. Furthermore, Rochelle does not want to focus only on healthcare. “Beyond medical applications, neurotechnology has the potential to elevate human experiences and functioning in many other ways. For example, enhancing human learning ability, boosting physical performances, and enabling efficiencies like brain-controlled devices. As neurotechnology can potentially affect everything and everyone, we also need to orient ourselves more broadly.”
Yves Persoons
www.ntxl.org
