Direct Brain Interface Laboratory

Our Lab History and Vision

The UM-DBI lab combines many years of brain-computer interface (BCI) research and close clinical ties to assistive technology service delivery with a strong engineering background. The UM-DBI laboratory was co-founded by Dr. Simon Levine and Dr. Jane Huggins, the current principal investigator. The term Direct Brain Interface is intended to emphasize the function of the BCI as a direct connection between the human brain and various kinds of technologies (not just computers). With funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) in the Department of Education and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the UM-DBI laboratory pioneered BCI research based on electrocorticogram (ECoG) from electrodes implanted inside the skull. In recent years, the UM-DBI Laboratory has focused on non-invasive BCIs using electroencephalogram (EEG) with funding from the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), Eunice Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIDRR, Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR), and the Mildred E. Swanson Foundation.

The UM-DBI laboratory's close clinical ties have fueled a desire to see the rapid advance of some form of BCI to clinical availability and an awareness of the limited nature of many of the BCI-specific applications developed for BCI operation. Funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in the NIH enabled the creation of a BCI that can operate as a plug-and-play replacement for a standard USB keyboard as well as providing access to other assistive technology and the development of novel BCI control capabilities. Funding from NIDRR enabled study of the BCI design priorities and preferences of people with a variety of disabling conditions as well as testing with a variety of potential BCI users.

Current funding from NIH and NIDILRR (The National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research) is for developing and testing the AAC-BCI. Future research directions include interfacing BCIs to commercially available assistive technologies, improving BCI response time and no-control performance, identifying features and support necessary for successful independent BCI use by people with physical impairments, identifying the design preferences and priorities of potential BCI users, BCI applications in cognitive testing, and the identification and accommodation of user-specific characteristics that affect BCI function.

Principal Investigator

Dr.Huggins, a smiling woman with shoulder-length salt-and-pepper hair, wearing glasses.

Jane Huggins, Ph.D.

Associate Research Scientist
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Neuroscience Graduate Program
University of Michigan.
Dr. Huggins received her B.S. in Computer Engineering with a Biomedical Engineering option and an Art Minor from Carnegie Mellon. She received a M.S. in Bioengineering, a M.S.E. in Computer Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She completed a clinical Rehabilitation Engineering Internship. While working on her dissertation, she founded the University of Michigan Direct Brain Interface Laboratory with Dr. Simon Levine. Dr. Huggins has been the director of the University of Michigan Direct Brain Interface Laboratory since 2007. Her current focus is making EEG-based brain-computer interfaces practical for people who need them. Outside the lab, Dr. Huggins enjoys knitting, birdwatching, genealogy, cooking for her husband, and being Mom to her college-age children.
Dr. Huggins currently serves the Brain-Computer Interface Society on the Communications Committee. She was a founding member of the board of directors of the Brain-Computer Interface Society. She was a past co-editor-in-chief of the journal Brain-Computer Interfaces, published by Taylor and Francis Group.
Contact: janeh@umich.edu