09 Dec 2021
Neurosoft Bioelectronics announces two new members to its Advisory Board. Prof. Dirk de Ridder and Dr. Christian Hauptmann, two experts in neuromodulation and tinnitus, join the advisory board to shape and guide the technical and clinical development of an implantable brain-computer interface to treat severe tinnitus through cortical neuromodulation.
Geneva, Switzerland, 9 December 2021 – Neurosoft Bioelectronics SA, a startup developing the first fully-implantable Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) to treat severe tinnitus, announced two new members to its Advisory Board.
Prof. Dirk de Ridder and Dr. Christian Hauptmann, two experts in neuromodulation and tinnitus, join the advisory board to shape and guide the technical and clinical development of a fully-implantable BCI to treat severe tinnitus through cortical neuromodulation.
Prof. Dirk de Ridder, MD PhD, is professor of neurosurgery at the University of Otago and co-founder of the BRAIN3N neuromodulation center. A strong supporter of interdisciplinary and translational neuroscience, his research focuses primarily on the treatment of phantom perceptions such as pain and tinnitus, using non-invasive and invasive modulation techniques. He is the developer of the “burst” stimulation design for brain and spinal cord implants, commercialised by Abbott. Furthermore, he is recognized as the world-leading expert in tinnitus, pioneering cortical neuromodulation for its treatment. His years of experience and his world-wide collaborations have resulted in the publication of over 250 scientific articles and more than 30 scientific book chapters.
Dr. Christian Hauptmann, PhD, is an experienced neuroscientist and developer with over 20 years of international experience in several start-up companies and universities, with more than 48 patent filings and 55 scientific publications. Dr. Hauptmann developed several innovative neuromodulation techniques, both invasive and non-invasive and transferred these into medical devices. From 2009 to 2013, he was CTO at ANM Adaptive Neuromodulation, where he developed a non-invasive device for tinnitus. He is also a founding member of Braingrade, an invasive BCI company for the treatment of Alzheimer’s. Throughout his career, Dr. Hauptmann has gained vast and significant experience in clinical testing and in the management of IP portfolios.
Neurosoft Bioelectronics Ltd. is a Swiss medtech spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). Neurosoft Bioelectronics is developing the next generation of soft implantable electrodes to interface with the brain for the treatment of severe neurological disorders. Its main product is a fully implantable closed-loop Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) to treat severe tinnitus, a condition that affects 7M people in the US and Europe, of which 7% attempt suicide every year. It is also developing a family of subdural electrodes intended for monitoring during brain tumor and epilepsy resection surgery.