TK Kozai (BIONICLab.org)

Grateful for this unexpected feature. I still have imposter syndrome days... I thought that was supposed to en be after tenure?

stim.bioniclab.org #Neuroscience #BrainComputerInterface #IntracorticalMicrostimulation #NeuralEngineering #TranslationalNeuroscience #CrossSpecies #Neuroethics #SensoryRestoration

15 investigators across bioengineering, neurobiology, computational neuroscience, neuroethics, philosophy, ophthalmology, rehab medicine, and English. The breadth is the point. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.108…

New UP NExT Paper: "Solving the Problem of Inception" Brain implants can make a paralyzed person feel touch on a hand they can't move. But we still can't explain, at the level of cells and circuits, how electrical pulses become specific experiences.

NIH has long engaged the scientific community in a democratic way. That's a good thing, and it's under attack. New post by me, about why NIH's peer review process and advisory panels are pretty unique across gov't, and why they're so important.

Writing out a conversation I’ve been having a lot at this conference: Things in US science are far, far worse than people know. Far worse than even other scientists know. 1/

MAGA losses: - Jobs/exports gone - Security edge lost - Cures delayed - America First → China First Slash tape! Force OMB release NOW. Prioritize BCI! Call reps:demand action! More: foxnews.com/tech/chinas-ul… reuters.com/business/healt… #Innovation #DeepState

🧠 MAGA ALERT: China $165M BCI fund rolls out 2026-30 domination plan US $429M stuck in Deep State tape! Scary for America First. China surges in brain tech. 🇨🇳 2026: $165M fund, BCI "future industry" priority, 2027 breakthroughs + provincial billions. #MAGA #BCI

Two mechanisms, two regional outcomes. Every BCI degrades because the biology fails. Industry can't fund the basic science to understand why. That's what NIH and NSF are for. Industry builds airplanes. Federally funded research builds the runway. #NeuralEngineering #BCI #Myelin

This is the mirror image of our clemastine work (Chen et al., Biomaterials 2023). Clemastine generates new oligodendrocytes, helped cortex, failed in CA1 by ~10 weeks. FusOLcKO thickens existing myelin, helped CA1, not cortex. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

New paper (final version) from UP NExT [University of Pittsburgh Neural Engineering Cross-Translation] Initiative: oligodendrocyte-specific Fus deletion thickens myelin via cholesterol biosynthesis. Result? Hippocampal CA1 recordings improved across 16 weeks. Cortex did not.

Follow along on substack: @bioniclab/note/c-224749582?r=7uxlsu" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack.com/@bioniclab/not… Or LinkedIn: linkedin.com/posts/tkozai_a…

Over coming weeks: honest breakdown of why BCIs stop working (mechanical + biological + conceptual gaps), what we know/don’t, and path to lasting implants. For builders, funders, regulators, patients, curious minds. advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.100…

📞 Oct 6, 2016: Recruited by Sam Teller & Elon Musk to co-found (#7 of 8) what became one of the world’s biggest brain-computer interface companies. Turned it down, not bc mission unimportant, but bc critical biology problems weren’t priority (they replaced me w/ 2 people).

@bioniclab/note/c-224266117?r=7uxlsu" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack.com/@bioniclab/not… neurofounders.co/articles/china…

🚨 China Just Told You Their Plan to Beat the USA in Neurotech. Are We Listening? China deployed seven ministries to build a national brain-computer interface industry by 2030. USA is pulling funding from the institutions that built the lead we are trying to protect. #bci #nih