Live Now:
natChat

Startups in Neurotech


Featuring:
Dr. Perry Kinkaide
Simba Nyazika
Dr. Ty McKinney

Locations:
ECHA 1-498
Online, Right Here!

natChat

A FREE virtual chat session hosted by NeurAlbertaTech. natChat: Innovation in Neurotech is an accessible networking and speaker series focused on neurotechnology where we invite leaders across the field who will be presenting on their innovative solutions in the health sciences and consumer domains. At this event you will have the chance to win some exclusive NAT swag and more importantly, you will have the chance to build your network and expand your professional reach.

Be sure to contact us with any questions!

Jump to a chat: Past Chats

Upcoming Chats

natChat:
June 24th
5pm-7pm MT

During this iteration of our natChat, we'll be chatting about startups in neurotech!

Locations:
ECHA 1-498
Online (this page!)

Dr. Perry Kinkaide

President of Kinkaide Enterprises Inc
With expertise in change management and a background in the biochemistry of memory and neurophysiology of attention, Perry has dedicated his career to promoting innovative, emerging, and advanced technologies that are fundamental to the development of Alberta's economy. Over the years, Perry has co-founded several technology alliances that advance cell therapy, cleantech, and fusion technology. He has also developed an index for monitoring Alberta's economic resilience, which has been instrumental in identifying areas of opportunity for economic growth. Perry's public webcasting network, which features Alberta innovations, has helped to showcase the latest developments in emerging technologies to a broader audience. At the onset of COVID, Perry founded Kinkaide Enterprises Inc. - an international network of over 25,000 participants. Through KEI, Perry continues to provide mentorship and financing for early-stage companies with industry disruptive technologies. Moreover, he serves as a change agent to educate and establish networks capitalizing on the impact of emerging technologies.

Simba Nyazika

CEO and Founder Lenica Research Group
Simba Nyazika, a Psychology and Neuroscience graduate from the University of Alberta. Simba firmly believes in the importance of good mental health as a fundamental human right. With over seven years of clinical experience as a Behaviour Consultant, he has supported individuals of all ages struggling with diverse mental health challenges. Simba's passion for mental health has led to the creation of groundbreaking initiatives, including the world's first mobile virtual reality-based brain training program, Cognilit, and the successful development of RehabVR - a cognitive rehabilitation program to support stroke recovery, in partnership with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. As a co-founder of Lenica Research Group, Simba and his team are dedicated to creating a neurocognitive platform that has the potential to revolutionize mental health on a global scale.

Dr. Ty McKinney

Co-Founder of 8 Bit Cortex
Dr. Ty McKinney, a Psychology graduate from the University of Alberta. Dr. McKinney completed his Ph.D. at the University of Utah on brainwave technology in mental health assessment. He co-founded 8-Bit Cortex to adapt his research into gamifying corporate burnout risk assessments and improving workplace wellness for everyone. As the Research Director for Branch Out, Dr. McKinney promotes the impact of innovative brain health research and shares this insight with the community. When not thinking about the brain, Ty can be found exploring nature or connecting with Alberta's growing technology ecosystem.

Why Should You Attend?

Info Night Image
Raffle

We will be raffling off exciting prizes throughout the chats, such as:
 - NAT merch baskets (shirt, pen, mask, etc.)*
 - NAT workshop subscription for any stream

* Physical prizes are only available to individuals who attend in-person.

Info Night Image
Networking

Building a network is important! One of the strongesst factors contributing to successful job applications is your network. If you think you want to pursue a career in neurotech, neuroscience, or tech, this is the place to build your network! We bring in as many great minds as we can find from all of the fields we are involved in, and this is your chance to meet them.

Past Chats

natChat:
March 30th
5pm-7pm MT

During this iteration of our natChat, we'll be chatting about neurotech in social neuroscience!

Locations:
CCIS 1-160
Online (this page!)

Full Recording

Are you a neurotech enthusiast interested in building your network and expanding your professional reach? NeurAlbertaTech invites you to join us for our speaker event, NAT Chat - Social Neuroscience - on Thursday, March 30th! Connect with leading industry professionals and academics, enjoy free food and beverages, and win prizes!

natChat:
Neurotech in Artificial Intelligence

February 16th, 2023
5pm-7pm MT

Hybrid Locations:
CCIS L1-140
Online

Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski

CIFAR Artificial Intelligence Chair; Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta; Vice Board Chair AMII
Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski is an Associate Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Alberta and a Senior Staff Research Scientist and team lead at DeepMind's Alberta office. He is interested in reinforcement learning, decision making, and human-machine interaction, and leads the Amii Adaptive Prosthetics Program. He has also developed techniques for cancer and pathogen screening. Dr. Pilarski has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles and received numerous research grants and awards.

Omid Hajihassani

Machine Learning and Client Analyst
Omid Hajihassani is a graduate of the MSc in Software Engineering from the University of Alberta. As the Machine Learning and Client Analyst at ISAIC, Omid is passionate about HPC programming and how to apply ML to business problems.

Gautham Vasan

PhD Candidate in Statistical Machine Learning
Gautham Vasan is a PhD student in Statistical Machine Learning at the University of Alberta, focusing on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. His research involves developing Reinforcement Learning algorithms and continual learning systems for real-world robots. Previously, he worked as a Machine Learning Researcher at Kindred Systems Inc, applying AI techniques for e-commerce fulfillment centers.

natChat:
Neurotech in Invasive Medicine

November 24, 2022
17:00-19:00mt

This event is 100% virtual

Tejas Sankar

Neurosurgeon at Alberta Health Services
Dr. Tejas Sankar is a neurosurgeon, clinician-scientist, and Associate Professor at the University of Alberta. He holds a medical degree from McGill University, completed his neurosurgical residency training at the University of Alberta, and completed his PhD at the University of Toronto. His principal clinical interest is the neurosurgical management of patients with Parkinson’s Disease, other movement disorders, and psychiatric disorders using Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), and he is the surgical lead for the DBS program. He also has strong clinical interests in the treatment of patients suffering from chronic pain and brain tumors.

Dr. Sankar currently also serves as Research Director in the Division of Neurosurgery and is the Principal Investigator for the Functional Neurosurgery Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta. The lab focuses on the use of multimodal neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques in order to study the impact of brain stimulation on plasticity in the nervous system, and to develop biomarkers of treatment response across a wide range of neurosurgical illnesses, with specific emphasis on Parkinson's Disease and chronic pain. Dr. Sankar has published over 65 peer-reviewed scientific articles, written multiple invited commentaries and book chapters, and has given over 70 invited presentations. In addition, he has received several research awards, including the 2009 Journal of Neuro-Oncology award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Dr. Sankar is currently an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences (CJNS), and serves as Vice President of the Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation (CNSF).

Henry Forer

Director of Manufacturing at Kheprion Inc.
I am a Fifth-year Materials Engineering Student here at the University of Alberta. I currently work in the field of drug and medical device development - specializing in manufacturing nanomaterials for wound care, and targeted therapeutics with an emphasis on women's health.

I have started and worked with numerous University Spin-off corporations from the innovations we created here at the University of Alberta and with our partners across North America.

natChat:
Neurotech in Medicine

March 23, 2022
17:00-19:00mt

This event is 100% virtual

Dr. Milad Nazarahari

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineer at University of Alberta
Milad began his educational journey at Iran University of Science and Technology where he spent six years studying Mechanical Engineering, and another two years as a Researcher. More recently Milad completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta in 2020, where he has served as a Research and Teaching Assistant since 2016. Currently Dr. Nazarahari is working in a lab which researches the potential of neuroprostheses for controlling balance in those with physical disabilities.

Dr. Tony Muhammad Yousefnezhad

Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Alberta
My primary research interests lie in developing machine / deep / reinforcement learning for solving real-world big and complex problems. Specifically, I am now working on the intersection of machine learning and computational neuroscience, where I am creating different techniques for decoding patterns of the human brain by exploiting distinctive biomarkers, i.e., fMRI, EEG, MEG, Health Records, etc.

natChat:
Neurotech in Gaming

February 16, 2022
17:00-19:00mt

This event is 100% virtual

Katherine Perdue

Research Scientist at Kernel
With a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Dartmouth, Katherine's expertise is incredibly impressive. Throughout her professional career Katherine has built up extensive experience in research and neuroscience study. Now at Kernel as a research scientist, Katherine has worked on neuroimaging system characterization, optimization, configuration, and much more!

Mike Ambinder

Mike is an experimental psychologist at Valve, focusing on BCIs and has worked on many of their games such as TF2 and Portal 2.

natChat:
Women in Neurotech

October 27, 2021
17:00-19:00mt

This event is 100% virtual

Keynote: Katherine Perdue

Research Scientist at Kernel
With a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Dartmouth, Katherine's expertise is incredibly impressive. Throughout her professional career Katherine has built up extensive experience in research and neuroscience study. Now at Kernel as a research scientist, Katherine has worked on neuroimaging system characterization, optimization, configuration, and much more!

Vivian Mushahwar

Throughout her career, Vivian has contributed an incredible amount to the medical neurotech industry, including Founding or Co-Founding several innovative companies. Vivian now sits as the Canadian Research Chair in Functional Restoration at the University of Alberta as well as serving as a Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Bhawna Sehgal

Co-Founder | Upside Down Labs
With an eye for detail and passion for design Bhawna has built up an extensive graphic design background. More recently, she Co-Founded Upside Down Labs, a technology development firm that is currently working on open-source projects in the bioelectronics and neuroscience spaces.

natChat:
Neurotech in Industry

February 24, 2021
17:00-19:00mt

This event is 100% virtual

Keynote: Mike Ambinder

Mike is an experimental psychologist at Valve, focusing on BCIs and has worked on many of their games such as TF2 and Portal 2.

Ty McKinney

Ty is a co-founder of the mental health tech company 8-Bit Cortex where he focuses on gamifying mental health assessment.

natChat:
Neurotech in Industry

January 20, 2021
17:00-19:00mt

This event is 100% virtual

Keynote: Mikhail Lebedev

With over 100 publications, decades of cutting-edge research at esteemed institutions, and a multitude of coveted awards, Dr. Lebedev has investigated all levels of brain function from cellular to cortical, with a focus on somatosensory and motor cortices. He has developed bi-directional BCIs that simultaneously read brain activity and deliver sensory information. Mikhail is currently Scientific Head of the Center for Bioelectrical Interfaces, part of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at HSE in Moscow.

Andreas Forsland

Andreas is Founder and CEO of Cognixion where he is providing the hundreds of millions of people with communication disabilities a way to express their voice. Cognixion creates natural interfaces powered by AI to facilitate and improve communication. In addition to Speakprose, a mobile app that uses gestures and eye-tracking to build sentences, the team is developing an entirely wireless BCI with integrated AR.

Cayden Pierce

Cayden helps people upgrade their thinking by creating wearable BCIs and is currently the BCI Lead at Blueberry. Blueberry is building BCI glasses that allow continuous brain state monitoring to help users make better work, break, and rest decisions, overall increasing productivity and satisfaction.

Jacob Flood

Originally an engineer, Jacob transitioned towards productivity and science; author of the book Study Smart, founder of a SaaS tutoring company, and now Founder and CEO of Eno. Eno is improving focused productivity with elegant and innovative BCIs for everyday use.

Joseph Artuso

Coming from a Political Science degree at Columbia University, Joseph has honed his marketing and communication skills at companies across the globe including Salesforce, AppNexus, and WPP. Joseph previously managed digital marketing for OpenBCI and now directs OpenBCI's commercialization and communication strategies.

NAT + You
Your Logo Here

Interested in helping further our goals of demystifying neurotechnology and fostering future innovators? Your partnership makes this whole event possible and helps us push the bleeding edge of neurotech. Please contact us if you would be interested in recieving a copy of our sponsorship document and learning more about the long list of benefits we offer.