Professor Max Ortiz Catalán, Head of Neural Prosthetic Research
Professor Max Ortiz Catalán is the Head of Neural Prosthetics Research at the Bionics Institute.
Professor Ortiz Catalán’s mission is to develop and clinically implement technologies to eliminate disability and pain due to sensorimotor impairment.
He has created several biomedical innovations, including the first bionic limb anchored to the skeleton with long-term stable neural control and sensory feedback used in daily life, as well as novel treatments for neuropathic pain that are currently used worldwide.
Professor Ortiz Catalán is also the founder of the Center for Bionics and Pain Research (CBPR) in Sweden.
He is regarded as a world leader in prosthetics and phantom limb pain.
A prominent scientist who has authored over 100 scientific publications, including articles in prestigious journals such as the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, and others in the Nature and Science families, Professor Ortiz Catalán is the first or last author in over 80% of his publications, indicating his direct involvement in the published work.
Professor Ortiz Catalán has received several international awards for innovation and scientific relevance; been the keynote speaker at the leading conferences in his field and guest speaker at over 100 international conferences and universities worldwide.
Several documentaries and over 100 popular science articles in over a dozen languages have featured his work.
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Media coverage
Top publications
- Ortiz-Catalan M., Mastinu E., Sassu P., Aszmann O., and Brånemark R., Neuromusculoskeletal arm prostheses, New England Journal of Medicine, 2020, 382(18):1732-1738
- Ortiz-Catalan M., Guðmundsdóttir R.A., Kristoffersen M.B., Zepeda-Echavarria A., Caine-Winterberger K., Kulbacka-Ortiz K., Widehammar C., Eriksson K., Stockselius A., Ragnö C., Pihlar Z., Burger H., and Hermansson L., Phantom motor execution facilitated by machine learning and augmented reality as treatment for phantom limb pain: a single group, clinical trial in patients with chronic intractable phantom limb pain, The Lancet, 2016, 388:2885-2894.
- Ortiz-Catalan M., Håkansson B., and Brånemark R., Osseointegrated human-machine gateway for long-term stable sensory feedback and motor control of artificial limbs, Science Translational Medicine, 2014, 257re6.
- Ortiz-Catalan M., Zbinden J., Millenaar J., D’Accolti D., Controzzi M., Clemente F., Cappello L., Earley E., Mastinu E., Kolankowska J., Munoz-Novoa M., Jönsson S., Cipriani C., Sassu P., and Brånemark R., A highly integrated bionic hand with neural control and feedback for use in daily life, Science Robotics, 8(11):eadf7360.
- Zbinden J., Sassu P., Mastinu E., Earley E., Munoz-Novoa M., Brånemark R., and Ortiz-Catalan M., Improved control of a prosthetic limb by surgically creating electro-neuromuscular constructs with implanted electrodes, Science Translational Medicine, 2023, 15 (704):eabq3665
