UW Bioengineering Ph.D. student, Julien Bloch, was named the 2022 recipient of the Center for Neurotechnology (CNT) Best Paper Award for Neurotechnology Advancement. The award acknowledges and promotes technical papers written by students affiliated with CNT that make identifiable contributions in neurotechnology or human-machine interaction.

Julien’s paper titled Network structure mediates functional reorganization induced by optogenetic stimulation of non-human primate sensorimotor cortex was selected because of its potential impact, quality and clarity of its technical content and originality of proposed solutions. The paper was recently published in iScience and Julien presented it at the GRC Neuroelectronic Interfaces Conference.

Julien is also co-author with UW neuroengineer Azadeh Yazdan, professor of bioengineering and of electrical and computer engineering, on an article about the impact brain stimulation can have on rewiring and healing damaged neural connections. The paper was written for The Conversation. Read more about the collaboration between Julien and Professor Yazdan. Julien works in the Yazdan lab, which focuses on restoring function and mobility in people with neurological disorders through developing stimulation-based therapies.