Team

Staff Profiles

Alan Degenhart, Ph.D.

Scientist II

alan.degenhart@alleninstitute.org

Alan joined the Allen Institute in 2020 as a Scientist in the Neural Coding group.  He received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering (Neural Engineering track) from the University of Pittsburgh, where he worked to develop brain-computer interfaces for individuals with upper-limb paralysis.  Following his Ph.D., Alan completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Drs. Byron Yu (Carnegie Mellon University) and Aaron Batista (University of Pittsburgh) where he investigated constraints on neural population activity in the motor cortex.

Research

Research Interests

My research interests center on how neural circuits perform computation.  Specifically, I am interested in how studying neuronal activity at the population level can reveal computational properties that are not evident at the single-neuron level.

Expertise

  • Computational Neuroscience
  • Electrophysiology
  • Machine Learning
  • Brain-machine interfaces

Research Programs

  • Neural Coding

Selected Publications View Publications

Stabilization of a brain-computer interface via the alignment of low-dimensional spaces of neural activity

Nature and Biomedical Engineering
July 4, 2020

Degenhart AD, Bishop WE, Oby ER, Tyler-Kabara EC, Chase SM, Batista AP, Yu BM

New neural activity patterns emerge with long-term learning

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
July 23, 2019

Oby ER, Golub MD, Hennig JA, Degenhart AD, Tyler-Kabara EC, Yu BM, Chase SM, Batista AP

Collaborative approach in the development of high-performance brain-computer interfaces for a neuroprosthetic arm: translation from animal models to human control

Clinical and Translational Science
February 7, 2014

Collinger JL, Kryger MA, Barbara R, Betler T, Bowsher K, Brown EH, Clanton ST, Degenhart AD, Foldes ST, Gaunt RA, Gyulai FE, Harchick EA, Harrington D, Helder JB, Hemmes T, Johannes MS, Katyal KD, Ling GS, McMorland AJ, Palko K, Para MP, Scheuermann J, Schwartz AB, Skidmore ER, Solzbacher F, Srikameswaran AV, Swanson DP, Swetz S, Tyler-Kabara EC, Velliste M, Wang W, Weber DJ, Wodlinger B, Boninger ML

An electrocorticographic brain interface in an individual with tetraplegia

PloS One
February 6, 2013

Wang W, Collinger JL, Degenhart AD, Tyler-Kabara EC, Schwartz AB, Moran DW, Weber DJ, Wodlinger B, Vinjamuri RK, Ashmore RC, Kelly JW, Boninger ML

Decoding and cortical source localization for intended movement direction with MEG

Journal of Neurophysiology
November 10, 2010

Wang W, Sudre GP, Xu Y, Kass RE, Collinger JL, Degenhart AD, Bagic AI, Weber DJ

Human motor cortical activity recorded with Micro-ECoG electrodes, during individual finger movements

2009 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
September 3, 2009

Wang W, Degenhart AD, Collinger JL, Vinjamuri R, Sudre GP, Adelson PD, Holder DL, Leuthardt EC, Moran DW, Boninger ML, Schwartz AB, Crammond DJ, Tyler-Kabara EC, Weber DJ