Guest Profile
Dr. Randal Koene Ph.D.
Dr. Randal A. Koene is CEO and Founder of the not-for-profit science foundation Carboncopies.org as well as the neural interfaces company NeuraLink Co. Dr. Koene is Science Director of the 2045 Initiative and a scientific board member in several neurotechnology companies and organizations.
Dr. Koene is a neuroscientist with a focus on neural interfaces, neuroprostheses and the precise functional reconstruction of neural tissue, a multi-disciplinary field known as (whole) brain emulation. Koene's work has emphasized the promotion of feasible technological solutions and "big-picture" roadmapping aspects of the field. Activities since 1994 include science-curation such as bringing together experts and projects in cutting-edge research and development that advance key portions of the field.
Randal Koene was Director of Analysis at the Silicon Valley nanotechnology company Halcyon Molecular (2010-2012) and Director of the Department of Neuroengineering at Tecnalia, the third largest private research organization in Europe (2008-2010). Dr. Koene founded the Neural Engineering Corporation (Massachusetts) and was a research professor at Boston University's Center for Memory and Brain. Dr. Koene earned his Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology at McGill University, as well as an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Information Theory at Delft University of Technology. He is a core member of the University of Oxford working group that convened in 2007 to create the first roadmap toward whole brain emulation (a term Koene proposed in 2000). Dr. Koene's professional expertise includes computational neuroscience, neural engineering, psychology, information theory, electrical engineering and physics.
In collaboration with the VU University Amsterdam, Dr. Koene led the creation of NETMORPH (netmorph.org), a computational framework for the simulated morphological development of large-scale high-resolution neuroanatomically realistic neuronal circuitry.
Publications, presentations and interviews are listed on Dr. Koene's personal site randalkoene.com.
