I am a neuroscientist and neural engineer developing neurophysiologically-based brain computer interfaces (BCIs). My main objective is to augment human capabilities using BCIs, with a particular focus on improving functional outcomes in patients with severe movement disabilities from brain injury or disease. This work is driven by a fundamental understanding of how the brain represents and encodes movement-related information. By integrating basic neuroscience with statistical signal processing, machine learning, and kinematic engineering, I seek to translate these principles into long-term stable neuroprosthetic systems.
Brain computer interface (BCI) control of a robotic arm and hand in a paralyzed patient
Natraj et. al., 2025
A closely related research direction is to examine at the role of sleep in the consolidation of motor skills. More broadly, I have also investigated the ameliorating and therapeutic effects of sleep in clinical populations, specifcially focusing on anxiety reduction in patients with PTSD.
I am currently a research faculty (Professional Researcher Series, Neural Engineering) at the Weill Institute for Neurosciences at the University of California, San Francisco. I am also affiliated with the UCSF - Veteran Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in San Francisco. At UCSF, I primarily work with Dr. Karunesh Ganguly, and also did my post-doctorate fellowship in his lab. I also collaborate with Dr. Anne Richards at UCSF-VAMC. I obtained my Masters and PhD from Georgia Tech with Dr. Lewis Wheaton in Bioengineering and Neurophysiology respectively where I first embarked on my journey in neuroscience. I obtained my Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy in my hometown of Chennai, India. I also wrote code as a software engineer for 18 months in industry. Prior to all this, I was a tennis player and track athlete in my first career before embarking on my professional journey.