Marco Capogrosso, PhD

Dr. Capogross and his team completed their first-in-human clinical trial testing the efficacy of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) to restore arm and hand function in people with chronic stroke (NCT04512690). This trial is performed in collaboration with Peter Gerszten, MD, and Robert Friedlander, MD, from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery; Elvira Pirondini, PhD, and Lee Fisher, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; George Wittenberg, MD, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurology; Douglas Weber, PhD, from Carnegie Mellon University; and John Krakauer, MD, from Johns Hopkins University. The team’s hypothesis is that SCS can support residual motor function in people with upper limb paralysis in consequence of stroke and significantly improve motor control. They observed unexpectedly large effect sizes that substantially improved strength, motor control and daily-life abilities of people with stroke. Dr. Capogrosso’s team believes that their data shows that their technology has the potential to become the first effective therapy for permanent post-stroke upper limb hemiparesis.

Dr. Capogrosso’s team also reported the results of their first-in-human clinical trial to explore the feasibility of using SCS to treat motor deficits and slow disease progress in people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (NCT05430113), a human motoneuron disease. The paper published in Nature Medicine in 2025 received world-wide media attention for being the first study demonstrating improvement of motoneuron function in a human motoneuron disease using neurotechnology. The team completed the pilot study and is now working towards the next phase of the clinical trial using a fully implantable system for long-term observation. This study is supported by the venture branch of Roche: Genentech and the SMA Foundation.