Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Joshua Southerland’s research sits at the intersection of neural plasticity, brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), and motor control, with a particular focus on how the brain adapts after amputation. His work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how cortical networks reorganize when learning to control external devices. In his most-cited study (23 citations), Southerland demonstrated that long-term BMI exposure after chronic amputation leads to significant changes in ensemble-level functional connectivity within primary motor cortex—a finding that moves beyond single-neuron analyses to reveal how entire networks reconfigure during neuroprosthetic use. His 2013 paper (16 citations) showed that operant conditioning with biofeedback can effectively shape neural activity for multi-degree-of-freedom control, even when natural motor mappings are disrupted by limb loss. Southerland also explored the emergence of coordinated reach-to-grasp movements through BMI paradigms in non-human primates (12 citations), offering insights into motor cortex’s role in learning complex sequences. His technical contributions include a method for tracking chronically recorded single-units across days, addressing a key challenge in long-term BMI studies. Southerland’s work bridges fundamental neuroscience and applied neuroengineering, providing a foundation for next-generation prosthetic systems that leverage the brain’s remarkable capacity for adaptive reorganization.