The project led by Pantelis Lioumis at Aalto University developed a working platform that connects real-time EEG measurement with brain stimulation. Carried out in collaboration with Bittium Biosignals and funded by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation, the project explored whether a patient’s own brain activity could be used to trigger brain stimulation for effective rehabilitation.
Project title: Brain–Computer Interface for Automated EEG-guided Brain Stimulation
Principal investigator of the project: Pantelis Lioumis, Aalto University
Project partners: Aalto University and Bittium Biosignals
FRIF funding awarded: €210,703
When a person wants to move their hand, the brain sends a signal through the nervous system. In a healthy body, the message reaches the muscles and movement follows. After a spinal cord or brain injury, the connection may be damaged or interrupted.
At Aalto University, researchers are studying how the connection between the brain and the body could be strengthened again. The Brain–Computer Interface for Automated EEG-guided Brain Stimulation project explored whether rehabilitation could be guided by the patient’s own brain activity.
“We want to facilitate rehabilitation strategies by using the patient’s own brain state to trigger brain stimulation. We believe this can make rehabilitation more efficient,” says Pantelis Lioumis, Adjunct Professor and Director of the TMS Laboratory at Aalto University and principal investigator of the project.
Rehabilitation guided by the brain itself
The project combines EEG measurement and transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS. EEG measures the electrical activity of the brain from the scalp. TMS uses magnetic pulses to stimulate specific areas of the brain.
The key idea is timing. Brain stimulation is not delivered randomly. Instead, the system measures what is happening in the brain and uses that information to decide when stimulation should be delivered.
This matters because the brain is more receptive at some moments than others. When a person imagines a movement, the neurons related to that movement become more active. If stimulation is delivered at the same time, the effect may be stronger.
Lioumis connects the idea to a well-known principle in neuroscience: neurons that fire together, wire together.
“We are in another era of brain stimulation. We do not just stimulate randomly. We use the brain state and try to stimulate at the correct time and at the correct spot,” Lioumis says.
The aim is that the patient would not only receive treatment, but actively take part in rehabilitation. Their own brain activity could help the system recognize when stimulation should be delivered.
“The rehabilitation will be facilitated. It can happen faster,” Lioumis explains.
Doctoral researcher Matilda Makkonen has worked closely on the project’s measurements and on the methods for processing EEG data in real time. In this kind of work, the system must recognize meaningful brain signals while filtering out noise.
“My role has been to conduct the measurements with healthy participants, design the experiments and work on the software development related to them,” Makkonen says.
The project has now produced a functioning platform. The next step is to use it in scientific experiments and compare different conditions to understand how well the approach works.
“We have the platform. The whole thing is working, and now we are doing the research to understand how well it works,” Lioumis says.
Bittium’s technology made real-time stimulation possible
The company partner in the project was Bittium Biosignals, part of Bittium Group. Bittium Biosignals develops medical and health technology devices, including EEG systems, ECG measurement devices and home sleep apnea testing solutions.
Bittium’s role was linked to its NeurOne EEG system, which is designed for research use. The system enables measured EEG data to be sent out immediately, making it possible to analyze brain activity in real time.
“Bittium has very good hardware and software for analyzing what is happening in the brain in real time. Not many EEG companies in the world do that,” Lioumis says.
The collaboration began naturally. Aalto University and Bittium had already worked together in different ways for almost ten years, and Aalto researchers had used Bittium’s equipment in their research. When Lioumis saw the Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s funding call, Bittium was the obvious partner.
According to Simo-Pekka Simonaho, Product Manager for Neuro products at Bittium Biosignals, Aalto University wanted to be at the leading edge of brain-state-dependent stimulation, where decisions about stimulation are made based on measured brain activity.
“At Aalto University, the researchers wanted to be at the leading edge of this kind of research. And they really are,” Simonaho says.
Collaboration turned a feature into a research tool
In practice, the collaboration meant close dialogue between Aalto University and Bittium. The researchers explained what they wanted to do, and Bittium helped them understand how the equipment could best support their aims.
“Our devices allow many different settings to be adjusted. The researchers told us what they wanted to achieve, and I explained the different ways it could be done. That is how we built it together,” Simonaho says.
Bittium also opened up technical details that would not normally be explained to customers in the same depth. This helped the researchers understand how the system could be used in this specific research setting.
According to Lioumis, Bittium’s support helped the researchers avoid unnecessary detours.
“They helped us facilitate our thoughts. We did not need to reinvent the cycle,” he says.
The collaboration also produced open-access software scripts that can be used for reading and analyzing real-time EEG data. For Bittium, this gives the company something practical to share with other customers who want to explore similar applications.
“We can now tell customers: this is one way to start testing it,” Simonaho says.
For Bittium, the project also offered visibility in the international research community. The NeurOne EEG system has been presented in connection with Aalto University’s research at conferences, where researchers have shown what they are doing and what kind of equipment they are using.
“The best kind of visibility for us is that researchers use our system in state-of-the-art work,” Simonaho says.
The project gave both sides something valuable. The researchers gained a platform for new experiments. Bittium gained feedback, visibility and a concrete example of how its EEG technology can be used in advanced brain stimulation research.
“It is a win-win,” Lioumis says.
A step toward more individualized rehabilitation
The broader potential of the project lies in more individualized and automated rehabilitation. Instead of delivering the same stimulation in the same way to every patient, future systems could adapt to the person’s own brain activity.
The platform developed in the project can also be applied to other research questions, including cognitive tasks and different forms of mental imagery. For Lioumis, this means the project is not an endpoint but a starting point.
“This kind of funding and this kind of project is a start. You start, and then it opens up,” he says.
The work continues after the funded project. The researchers are planning further studies to compare traditional rehabilitation approaches with the new brain-state-guided approach.
Lioumis also sees a wider role for companies in bringing complex research closer to practical use.
“Research is often quite complex, but companies have the tools to make it simpler for practical use,” he says.
The project is a good example of why collaboration between researchers and companies matters. The Aalto University researchers had an idea for stimulation guided by the patient’s own brain activity, and Bittium brought in the technology needed to test it in practice.
The work is still at the research stage. But the project has taken an important step toward therapeutic devices that do not only stimulate the brain, but respond to the patient’s own brain activity.
