Scientist leads global team helping ALS patients reclaim their voice

A city-based scientist is front and center of a major milestone in neurotechnology—an implant-based brain-computer interface (BCI) that enables an individual with advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to speak in real time with natural intonation, and even sing.

- Gayatri Vajpeyee

PUNE:

Dr. Maitreyee Wairagkar—a former student of Jnana Prabodhini (Nigdi) and Fergusson College who completed her Engineering Masters and Ph.D. from the United Kingdom and is now based at UC Davis as 'project scientist' to lead the project since the last three years—has set an example of what Indian girls can achieve provided they get a chance.

Dr. Wairagkar—working with her team of researchers at UC Davis's Neuroprosthetics Laboratory since the last three years—has led the project from conception to design to execution and developed this 'first-in-world' technology that demonstrates a brain-to-voice neuroprosthesis capable of synthesizing speech with less than a 25-millisecond delay, virtually indistinguishable from natural vocal feedback. Dr. Wairagkar is the first author on the study published in the scientific journal, 'Nature' on June 12, 2025.