China has a large number of patients with brain diseases. The patients with stroke alone number over 12 million. Brain diseases cause tremendous pain and financial stress to patients and their families. Take aphasia for example. According to the data recently released by the China Association of Actuaries, the average annual cost for treating brain diseases stands at RMB100,000, and there is no clinically effective cure.

“Most of the major brain diseases, such as depression, Parkinson’s disease, autism, and aphasia, are caused by abnormalities in brain functional networks. The current lack of clinical testing methods has severely hindered our understanding of the pathology of functional neurologic disorders, posing huge challenges to treatment.” — Research and Development Team of Neural Galaxy

Recently, Jin Yi, government official of Changping District, Beijing and deputy director of the Management Committee of Zhongguancun Life Science Park, Song Jinsong, CEO of PKU Healthcare Industry Group, Ren Zhenhua, Vice President of PKU Healthcare Industry Group, Li Haisheng, Assistant president of PKU Healthcare Industry Group and General Manager of PKU Medical Innovation Valley, Liu Xianzeng, director of the Department of Neurology, Peking University International Hospital, Jia Li, chairman of PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital Management Company, Wu Dongliang, Vice President of Healthcare for PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital, Ning Lisheng, Vice President of Administration for PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital, heads of other departments of PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital, Liu Hesheng, co-founder of Neural Galaxy and professor at the Centre for Brain Science of Harvard University, and executive management of BOHE Angel Fund and Xinshengchao Biomedical Company Limited attended a seminar on brain sciences and neurorehabilitation held by PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital. Ren Zhenhua, vice president of PKU Healthcare Industry Group, said that the seminar was a platform for innovation and development and he hoped that the two parties would learn from each other, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, give back to the community and bring more benefits to more patients.

Jia Li, chairman of PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital Management Company, introduced the history, departments, and management model of PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital.

Professor Liu Hesheng from the Center for Brain Science of Harvard University said he believed that making breakthroughs in understanding human brain is the key to overcoming challenges associated with brain diseases. The team headed by Professor Liu Hesheng, chief scientist and co-founder of Neural Galaxy, is working with top healthcare institutions on clinical validation of therapies for a variety of brain diseases, and has made exciting progress.

Professor Liu further explained, “Neural Galaxy’s Personalized Brain Function Segmentation (pBFS) is the first-of-its-kind technology that enables doctors to detect and understand brain diseases from the perspective of functional circuits in brain, thereby making efficacious treatment possible. Discussing research results and collaborating with experts from PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital and other experts in the field of brain diseases will have a positive impact on our effort to design new and efficacious therapies for cognitive-communication disorders, motor impairment and other diseases.”

Liu Xianzeng, director of the Department of Neurology, Peking University International Hospital, discussed neural information processing and its neural mechanisms. He appreciated the value of neuromodulation intervention and therapies, and said that the development of brain science and clinical research need to be deeply integrated.

Wu Dongliang, Vice President of Healthcare for PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital, said that driven by government support, technological advancement, social changes and market demand, growth of the “Big Health” industry is picking up pace. As a specialist hospital in the field of rehabilitation, PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital hopes to work with participants of this seminar to explore new options for the model of rehabilitation service delivery, as well as new trends and new opportunities in the field of rehabilitation medicine.

At this seminar, Neural Galaxy and PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital reached a consensus on research cooperation in the field of brain science. The two parties will build a special working group to facilitate the launch of advanced research projects, leverage the advantages in the integration of brain science and clinical medicine to build a first-class research platform for brain science and neurorehabilitation, and promote basic and applied research of brain science. The ultimate goal of the collaboration is to benefit as many people as possible.

CEO of Neural Galaxy, said, “One the one hand, understanding and development of the human brain will be another blue ocean in the technology sector. On the other hand, it is also humanistic and can help people improve their living. Neural Galaxy provides healthcare institutions with brain-computer interface-based therapies that combine innovative hardware and software products, which have unprecedented therapeutic effects on brain diseases such as post-stroke aphasia and hemiplegia. I am glad to have the opportunity to communicate and discuss cooperation opportunities with PKUCare Rehabilitation Hospital and other industry leaders in rehabilitation medicine. I look forward to working with you to explore different options for the model of neurorehabilitation service delivery that can bring true benefits to the country and citizens.”

Editor’s Note: The brain function atlas in the article comes from the paper Individual Variability in Functional Connectivity Architecture of the Human Brain.