Ottobock
Since the Christian Doppler Laboratory completed its life span of 7 years on December 31st 2018, the involved partners Medical University of Vienna and Otto Bock Healthcare GmbH negotiated and agreed to continue the collaboration without public funding from the Christian Doppler Society. The proposed running time of this collaboration is 7 years (2019-2025) with a yearly budget of € 150.000 provided by Ottobock.
ERC Synergy Grant
Total granted sum: € 9,985,545.94 (all three partners)
Medical University of Vienna: >€ 3 Mio.
Funding Period: 2019-2025
Title: Natural Integration of Bionic Limbs via Spinal Interfacing
Running Title: Natural BionicS
PIs: Dario Farina, Imperial College London; Antonio Bicchi, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia;
Oskar Aszmann, Medical University of Vienna
Natural BionicS aims at creating a fully integrated, symbiotic replacement of missing or damaged parts of the human body with artificial limbs that the user will feel and command as a true part of her/his body. We will achieve this goal with a revolutionary concept of bidirectional inter- facing with the spinal cord circuitries that synergistically combines leading expertise in surgery (Aszmann), interfacing (Farina), and soft robotics (Bicchi).
INOPRO (180.000€)
We recently established a cooperation on a project initiated by Prof. Thomas Stieglitz from the Institute for Microsystem Technology at the University of Freiburg in Germany. The aim is to test a new implant concept with modular, capacitively coupled electrodes. The system is designed to be used for selective stimulation of sensory nerves and bridges the skin barrier wirelessly without the need for complex implant electronics. A prototype optimized in size and efficiency is being tested in an animal model that approximates human proportions.
Ripple (42.000€)
In another cooperation with the US based company Ripple LLC (Salt Lake City, Utah), we are testing a novel solution for high-bandwidth, intramuscular signal pickup to improve prosthetic control. The fully implantable myoelectric system comprises 32 individual electrode sites, which are placed within the muscle, allowing the recording of high-quality EMG signals with minimal noise. The gathered data is then sent to an external pickup device via telemetry, where it can be further processed and used to operate a prosthesis. We have tested the system in a large animal model and are currently analysing the data. As a next step, first in human application is planned.
FESSH/Foundation for Hand Surgery Clinical Research Grant (25.000€)
The FESSH/Foundation for Hand Surgery Clinical Research supports fundamental hand surgery research for the public health benefit. It therefore aims at supporting original clinical projects that aim to study and improve outcome of hand surgery related conditions.
With the promising project “Nerve transfers in spasticity” Olga Politikou claimed half of the total grant amount (50.000€) in a shared win. In this project we are assessing clinically, histologically and at molecular level the effect of cognitive nerve transfers to spastic upper extremity muscles in stroke patients.
Christian Doppler Research Society (CDG) Award for Research and Innovation 2020 (40.000€)
With the 25-year-Jubilee of the Christian Doppler Research Society (Christian Doppler Forschungsgesellschaft, CDG) we were honoured to be invited for applying for the first Award for Research and Innovation. Amongst all the applicants we were able to be rewarded with this prize, for successfully promoting the core concept of CDG through innovative and competitive basic science research in cooperation with our industrial partner Otto Bock Healthcare GmbH.