Brief Description
Cortera Neurotechnologies, Inc. designs medical devices aimed at revolutionizing the treatment of incurable neurological conditions. The company's mission was to deliver innovative products that improve patient care, quality of life and advance neuroscientific research.
Rikky Muller (PhD ’13 EECS) invented the company's foundational technology, a micro-electrocorticography (ECoG) device, as a PhD student in electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley. The small implant — as thin as plastic wrap and as flexible as a soft contact lens — can record neural activity and then transmit the data wirelessly for analysis, using ultra-low power circuits and a microfabricated electrode array. Muller co-founded Cortera Neurotechnologies with Peter Ledochowitsch (PhD’13 BioE) and EECS professors Jan Rabaey and Michel Maharbiz. Under Muller’s leadership as chief technology officer, Cortera was a key contributor to a DARPA program (as part of President Obama’s BRAIN initiative) aimed at developing neurotechnology as a therapy to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Timeline
- 2013. Company founded
- 2019. Company acquired by Nia Therapeutics
Inventor
Rikky Muller