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About

Lucia Friedli is a leading neuroscientist whose work lies at the intersection of spinal cord injury repair, neuroprosthetics, and motor control. Her research focuses on restoring voluntary locomotion after paralyzing injuries, with major contributions in developing electrochemical neuroprostheses and robotic interfaces that enable supraspinally mediated movement. Her landmark 2012 paper, "Restoring Voluntary Control of Locomotion after Paralyzing Spinal Cord Injury," has garnered over 754 citations, demonstrating its profound impact on the field. In this study, she introduced a novel combination of an electrochemical neuroprosthesis and a robotic postural interface that allowed rats with severe spinal cord lesions to regain voluntary control of their hindlimbs. Friedli also pioneered the use of versatile robotic interfaces for evaluating and training locomotion and balance in neuromotor disorders, and she advanced the decoding of bipedal locomotion from sensorimotor cortex activity, opening new avenues for brain-machine interfaces in gait rehabilitation. Her work bridges fundamental neuroscience with translational applications, offering hope for restoring mobility after paralysis.