Dr. Richard Andersen is a preeminent neuroscientist whose pioneering work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of brain function and its clinical applications. He currently serves as the James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology, a position he has held since 1993, and directs the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center. After completing his B.S. in Biochemistry at the University of California, Davis in 1973 and his Ph.D. in Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco in 1979, he conducted postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins Medical School. His distinguished academic career includes faculty appointments at the Salk Institute from 1981 to 1986 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1987 to 1990 before joining Caltech, where he has established himself as a leader in systems neuroscience.
Dr. Andersen's seminal research has revolutionized our understanding of the posterior parietal cortex and its critical role in forming movement intentions and sensorimotor transformations. His early work established the concept of cortical gain fields, revealing a fundamental computational principle used throughout the cortex, and he developed one of the first neural network models of cortical function with Zipser of UCSD. His laboratory has made groundbreaking discoveries about how specialized cortical areas encode preconscious movement intentions for all body parts, including awareness of touch, internal speech, and observation of others. These insights have directly enabled the development of advanced cognitive-based neural prosthetics that translate neural activity into control signals for external devices, offering transformative possibilities for individuals with paralysis.
As a leader in translational neuroscience, Dr. Andersen has been instrumental in bridging fundamental discoveries with clinical applications through his work on brain-computer interfaces and cortical repair technologies. He has authored over 200 scientific publications and is an elected member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, reflecting his profound impact on the field. His laboratory has successfully implanted electrode arrays in various cortical areas beyond the motor cortex, enabling sophisticated interpretation of movement intentions for bimanual control of devices in real-world environments. Currently, his research continues to push the boundaries of neuroprosthetics with ongoing efforts to transition animal research to clinical trials for paralyzed patients and to develop systems that can predict internal speech from neural activity, demonstrating his commitment to translating basic science into meaningful clinical applications.
