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John Downey

TitleAssistant Professor
InstitutionUniversity of Chicago
DepartmentNeurological Surgery
AddressChicago IL 60637
ORCID ORCID Icon0000-0002-2992-2848 Additional info
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    Collapse Overview 
    Collapse overview
    I work to develop implanted Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) that will restore independence and capability to people with high-level paralysis or amputation. After placing electrodes in their brain, the BCI measures neural activity as they attempt to move their disabled hand and arm, using it to move a robotic prosthetic hand and arm instead. Once the prosthetic hand touches an object, the BCI provides electrical stimulation back into the brain, so they feel as though they are touching the object with their own hand. This provides them with natural, intuitive control over a prosthetic hand and arm while restoring their ability to feel and manipulate objects.

    My research program is focused on sensorimotor neuroscience and neuroengineering related to hand and arm control. I work to better understand how motor cortex controls functional hand and arm movements in increasingly natural situations, with the goal of improving BCI prosthetics.

    Collapse Biography 
    Collapse education and training
    Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MDBS12/2010Biomedical Engineering
    University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PAPh.D.07/2017Bioengineering

    Collapse Research 
    Collapse research activities and funding
    R01NS131953     (MILLER, LEE)Sep 18, 2023 - Aug 31, 2028
    NIH
    Development of an EMG-controlled BCI for biomimetic control of hand movement in humans
    Role: Co-Investigator
    R01NS130302     (DOWNEY, JOHN E)Aug 15, 2023 - Jul 31, 2028
    NIH
    Improved Brain-Computer Interface Decoding for Activities of Daily Life
    Role: Principal Investigator
    UH3NS107714     (BONINGER, MICHAEL L.)Sep 30, 2018 - Jun 30, 2024
    NIH
    A Biomimetic Approach Towards a Dexterous Neuroprosthesis
    Role: Co-Investigator

    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse selected publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
    Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
    PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. Greenspon CM, Hobbs TG, Verbaarschot C, Alamri AH, Shelchkova ND, Lienkämper R, Ye J, Simpson TW, Weiss JM, Weir DM, Harrington DE, Van Driesche A, Satzer D, Valle G, Miller LE, Hatsopoulos NG, Gonzalez-Martinez J, Warnke PC, Downey JE, Boninger ML, Collinger JL, Gaunt RA. Intracortical microstimulation in humans: a decade of safety and efficacy. medRxiv. 2025 Aug 13. PMID: 40832410; PMCID: PMC12363726.
      Citations:    
    2. Tian GJ, Zhu O, Shirhatti V, Greenspon CM, Downey JE, Freedman DJ, Doiron B, Greenspon CM. Firing rate diversity lowers the dimension of population covariability in neuronal networks. bioRxiv. 2025 Jun 01. PMID: 39257801; PMCID: PMC11383671.
      Citations:    
    3. Tortolani AF, Kunigk NG, Sobinov AR, Boninger ML, Bensmaia SJ, Collinger JL, Hatsopoulos NG, Downey JE. How different immersive environments affect intracortical brain computer interfaces. J Neural Eng. 2025 Feb 10; 22(1). PMID: 39883960; PMCID: PMC11809280.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    Translation:HumansCTClinical Trials
    4. Valle G, Alamri AH, Downey JE, Lienkämper R, Jordan PM, Sobinov AR, Endsley LJ, Prasad D, Boninger ML, Collinger JL, Warnke PC, Hatsopoulos NG, Miller LE, Gaunt RA, Greenspon CM, Bensmaia SJ. Tactile edges and motion via patterned microstimulation of the human somatosensory cortex. Science. 2025 01 17; 387(6731):315-322. PMID: 39818881; PMCID: PMC11994950.
      Citations: 12     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    5. Downey JE, Schone HR, Foldes ST, Greenspon C, Liu F, Verbaarschot C, Biro D, Satzer D, Moon CH, Coffman BA, Youssofzadeh V, Fields D, Hobbs TG, Okorokova E, Tyler-Kabara EC, Warnke PC, Gonzalez-Martinez J, Hatsopoulos NG, Bensmaia SJ, Boninger ML, Gaunt RA, Collinger JL. A Roadmap for Implanting Electrode Arrays to Evoke Tactile Sensations Through Intracortical Stimulation. Hum Brain Mapp. 2024 Dec 15; 45(18):e70118. PMID: 39720868; PMCID: PMC11669040.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    6. Greenspon CM, Valle G, Shelchkova ND, Hobbs TG, Verbaarschot C, Callier T, Berger-Wolf EI, Okorokova EV, Hutchison BC, Dogruoz E, Sobinov AR, Jordan PM, Weiss JM, Fitzgerald EE, Prasad D, Van Driesche A, He Q, Liu F, Kirsch RF, Miller JP, Lee RC, Satzer D, Gonzalez-Martinez J, Warnke PC, Ajiboye AB, Graczyk EL, Boninger ML, Collinger JL, Downey JE, Miller LE, Hatsopoulos NG, Gaunt RA, Bensmaia SJ. Evoking stable and precise tactile sensations via multi-electrode intracortical microstimulation of the somatosensory cortex. Nat Biomed Eng. 2025 Jun; 9(6):935-951. PMID: 39643730; PMCID: PMC12176618.
      Citations: 13     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    7. Ikegaya N, Mallela AN, Warnke PC, Kunigk NG, Liu F, Schone HR, Verbaarschot C, Hatsopoulos NG, Downey JE, Boninger ML, Gaunt R, Collinger JL, Gonzalez-Martinez JA. A novel robot-assisted method for implanting intracortical sensorimotor devices for brain-computer interface studies: principles, surgical techniques, and challenges. J Neurosurg. 2025 May 01; 142(5):1280-1288. PMID: 39642366; PMCID: PMC12445443.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    8. Deo DR, Okorokova EV, Pritchard AL, Hahn NV, Card NS, Nason-Tomaszewski SR, Jude J, Hosman T, Choi EY, Qiu D, Meng Y, Wairagkar M, Nicolas C, Kamdar FB, Iacobacci C, Acosta A, Hochberg LR, Cash SS, Williams ZM, Rubin DB, Brandman DM, Stavisky SD, AuYong N, Pandarinath C, Downey JE, Bensmaia SJ, Henderson JM, Willett FR. A mosaic of whole-body representations in human motor cortex. bioRxiv. 2024 Sep 16. PMID: 39345372; PMCID: PMC11429821.
      Citations:    
    9. Downey JE, Schone HR, Foldes ST, Greenspon C, Liu F, Verbaarschot C, Biro D, Satzer D, Moon CH, Coffman BA, Youssofzadeh V, Fields D, Hobbs TG, Okorokova E, Tyler-Kabara EC, Warnke PC, Gonzalez-Martinez J, Hatsopoulos NG, Bensmaia SJ, Boninger ML, Gaunt RA, Collinger JL. A roadmap for implanting microelectrode arrays to evoke tactile sensations through intracortical microstimulation. medRxiv. 2024 Apr 28. PMID: 38712177; PMCID: PMC11071570.
      Citations:    
    10. Shelchkova ND, Downey JE, Greenspon CM, Okorokova EV, Sobinov AR, Verbaarschot C, He Q, Sponheim C, Tortolani AF, Moore DD, Kaufman MT, Lee RC, Satzer D, Gonzalez-Martinez J, Warnke PC, Miller LE, Boninger ML, Gaunt RA, Collinger JL, Hatsopoulos NG, Bensmaia SJ. Microstimulation of human somatosensory cortex evokes task-dependent, spatially patterned responses in motor cortex. Nat Commun. 2023 11 10; 14(1):7270. PMID: 37949923; PMCID: PMC10638421.
      Citations: 25     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    11. Greenspon CM, Shelchkova ND, Valle G, Hobbs TG, Berger-Wolf EI, Hutchison BC, Dogruoz E, Verbarschott C, Callier T, Sobinov AR, Okorokova EV, Jordan PM, Prasad D, He Q, Liu F, Kirsch RF, Miller JP, Lee RC, Satzer D, Gonzalez-Martinez J, Warnke PC, Miller LE, Boninger ML, Ajiboye AB, Graczyk EL, Downey JE, Collinger JL, Hatsopoulos NG, Gaunt RA, Bensmaia SJ. Tessellation of artificial touch via microstimulation of human somatosensory cortex. bioRxiv. 2023 Jul 15. PMID: 37425877; PMCID: PMC10327055.
      Citations:    
    12. Greenspon CM, Valle G, Hobbs TG, Verbaarschot C, Callier T, Okorokova EV, Shelchkova ND, Sobinov AR, Jordan PM, Weiss JM, Fitzgerald EE, Prasad D, van Driesche A, Lee RC, Satzer D, Gonzalez-Martinez J, Warnke PC, Miller LE, Boninger ML, Collinger JL, Gaunt RA, Downey JE, Hatsopoulos NG, Bensmaia SJ. Biomimetic multi-channel microstimulation of somatosensory cortex conveys high resolution force feedback for bionic hands. bioRxiv. 2023 Jul 12. PMID: 36824713; PMCID: PMC9949113.
      Citations: 1     
    13. Sponheim C, Papadourakis V, Collinger JL, Downey J, Weiss J, Pentousi L, Elliott K, Hatsopoulos NG. Longevity and reliability of chronic unit recordings using the Utah, intracortical multi-electrode arrays. J Neural Eng. 2021 12 28; 18(6). PMID: 34847547; PMCID: PMC8981395.
      Citations: 18     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    14. Hughes CL, Flesher SN, Weiss JM, Downey JE, Boninger M, Collinger JL, Gaunt RA. Neural stimulation and recording performance in human sensorimotor cortex over 1500 days. J Neural Eng. 2021 08 13; 18(4). PMID: 34320481; PMCID: PMC8500669.
      Citations: 52     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    15. Flesher SN, Downey JE, Weiss JM, Hughes CL, Herrera AJ, Tyler-Kabara EC, Boninger ML, Collinger JL, Gaunt RA. A brain-computer interface that evokes tactile sensations improves robotic arm control. Science. 2021 05 21; 372(6544):831-836. PMID: 34016775; PMCID: PMC8715714.
      Citations: 186     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    16. Downey JE, Quick KM, Schwed N, Weiss JM, Wittenberg GF, Boninger ML, Collinger JL. The Motor Cortex Has Independent Representations for Ipsilateral and Contralateral Arm Movements But Correlated Representations for Grasping. Cereb Cortex. 2020 09 03; 30(10):5400-5409. PMID: 32494819.
      Citations: 13     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    17. Haines SR, Adams RI, Boor BE, Bruton TA, Downey J, Ferro AR, Gall E, Green BJ, Hegarty B, Horner E, Jacobs DE, Lemieux P, Misztal PK, Morrison G, Perzanowski M, Reponen T, Rush RE, Virgo T, Alkhayri C, Bope A, Cochran S, Cox J, Donohue A, May AA, Nastasi N, Nishioka M, Renninger N, Tian Y, Uebel-Niemeier C, Wilkinson D, Wu T, Zambrana J, Dannemiller KC. Ten questions concerning the implications of carpet on indoor chemistry and microbiology. Build Environ. 2019 Dec 18; 170:1-16. PMID: 32055099; PMCID: PMC7017391.
      Citations: 20     
    18. Downey JE, Weiss JM, Flesher SN, Thumser ZC, Marasco PD, Boninger ML, Gaunt RA, Collinger JL. Implicit Grasp Force Representation in Human Motor Cortical Recordings. Front Neurosci. 2018; 12:801. PMID: 30429772; PMCID: PMC6220062.
      Citations: 11     
    19. Downey JE, Schwed N, Chase SM, Schwartz AB, Collinger JL. Intracortical recording stability in human brain-computer interface users. J Neural Eng. 2018 08; 15(4):046016. PMID: 29553484.
      Citations: 60     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    20. Downey JE, Brane L, Gaunt RA, Tyler-Kabara EC, Boninger ML, Collinger JL. Motor cortical activity changes during neuroprosthetic-controlled object interaction. Sci Rep. 2017 12 05; 7(1):16947. PMID: 29209023; PMCID: PMC5717217.
      Citations: 24     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    21. Flesher SN, Collinger JL, Foldes ST, Weiss JM, Downey JE, Tyler-Kabara EC, Bensmaia SJ, Schwartz AB, Boninger ML, Gaunt RA. Intracortical microstimulation of human somatosensory cortex. Sci Transl Med. 2016 10 19; 8(361):361ra141. PMID: 27738096.
      Citations: 295     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    22. Downey JE, Weiss JM, Muelling K, Venkatraman A, Valois JS, Hebert M, Bagnell JA, Schwartz AB, Collinger JL. Blending of brain-machine interface and vision-guided autonomous robotics improves neuroprosthetic arm performance during grasping. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2016 Mar 18; 13:28. PMID: 26987662; PMCID: PMC4797113.
      Citations: 34     Fields:    Translation:HumansCTClinical Trials
    23. Collinger JL, Wodlinger B, Downey JE, Wang W, Tyler-Kabara EC, Weber DJ, McMorland AJ, Velliste M, Boninger ML, Schwartz AB. High-performance neuroprosthetic control by an individual with tetraplegia. Lancet. 2013 Feb 16; 381(9866):557-64. PMID: 23253623; PMCID: PMC3641862.
      Citations: 655     Fields:    Translation:HumansCTClinical Trials
    24. Li N, Downey JE, Bar-Shir A, Gilad AA, Walczak P, Kim H, Joel SE, Pekar JJ, Thakor NV, Pelled G. Optogenetic-guided cortical plasticity after nerve injury. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 May 24; 108(21):8838-43. PMID: 21555573; PMCID: PMC3102379.
      Citations: 34     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
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