The CEA launched the AUDACE research program in March 2025, a France 2030 initiative backed by €40 million that unites over 80 academic partners across France around 10 projects. Its mission: inject fresh scientific concepts into CEA labs and overcome technological barriers for promising innovations. Within CEA-Leti, the BrainSync project is developing a new brain-computer interface (BCI) therapy for post-stroke rehabilitation, leveraging the institution’s proprietary WIMAGINE® brain-machine interface. That technology previously enabled a tetraplegic patient to control a four-limb exoskeleton (2019, *The Lancet Neurology*) and, combined with an implanted spinal cord stimulation system from EPFL, CHUV, UNIL, and ONWARD Medical, allowed a paraplegic individual to walk naturally (2023, *Nature*).

Now, software manager Serpil Karakas and her team are adapting WIMAGINE® into a neurorehabilitation platform for stroke survivors, specifically targeting those with upper-limb motor impairment. Neurotechnology researcher Lucas Struber confirmed that CEA-Leti, Grenoble University Hospital, and Saint-Étienne University Hospital have filed for regulatory approval to launch a clinical trial. The BCI method hinges on real-time coupling: detecting a patient’s motor intention from brain signals and delivering corresponding sensorimotor feedback—via stimulation, robotics, or virtual reality—to repeatedly reinforce neural pathways, potentially boosting neuroplasticity and functional recovery. The work is co-funded by the European Innovation Council under Horizon Europe.

​​In March 2025, CEA launched a bold and ambitious research programAUDACEthat mobilizes allCEA research fields, as well as over 80 academic partners throughout France supporting around 10 projects.

​Begun at the request of the French government with funding of €40 million under France 2030, Audace! aims to bring new scientific concepts to CEA labs and to remove technological barriers to development of promising technologies. CEA-Leti's participation includes development on a brain-computer interface new therapy for poststroke rehabilitation in the context of theBrainSyncproject.

​The unique WIMAGINE®brain–machine interface technology has already contributed to two world-first achievements published inThe LancetNeurologyandNature.

In 2019, a tetraplegic patient was able to use brain activity to control a four-limb exoskeleton. In 2023, a paraplegic patient regained natural control of walking through the combination of CEA's WIMAGINE®technology with an implantedspinal cord stimulation therapy developed by EPFL, CHUV, UNIL, and ONWARD Medical (Lausanne, Switzerland).

Serpil Karakas, software manager at CEA-Leti, is now exploring the use of this technology to develop a neurorehabilitation platform that would enable post-stroke patients to carry out rehabilitation sessions. This approach is particularly aimed at patients with limited upper-limb mobility, especially those experiencing motor impairment.

Neurotechnology researcher Lucas Struber said CEA-Leti, Grenoble University Hospital and Saint-Étienne University Hospital have applied for authorization from regulatory authorities to conduct a clinical trial aimed at enabling post-stroke rehabilitation using these BCI. The principle of a BCI for rehabilitation relies on establishing a real-time coupling between detected motor intention in brain activity and corresponding sensorimotor feedback (e.g., stimulation, robotic assistance, or virtual feedback). This repeated association could promote neuroplasticity by strengthening relevant neural pathways, thereby potentially supporting functional recovery potential.

In addition to support from the French government under the Audace! program, the CEA-Leti team's work is supported by the European Commission through a grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) under the Horizon Europe program.