At the Nicolelis Laboratory at Duke University, Miguel Nicolelis is best known for pioneering studies in neuronal population coding, Brain Machine Interfaces (BMI) and neuroprosthetics in human patients and non-human primates.His lab's work was seen, famously though a bit too briefly, when a brain-controlled exoskeleton from his lab helped Juliano Pinto, a paraplegic man, kick the first ball at the 2014 World Cup.

But his lab is thinking even bigger. They've developed an integrative approach to studying neurological disorders, including Parkinsons disease and epilepsy. The approach, they hope, will allow the integration of molecular, cellular, systems and behavioral data in the same animal, producing a more complete understanding of the nature of the neurophysiological alterations associated with these disorders. He's the author of the books Beyond Boundaries and The Relativistic Brain.

Miguel was honored as one of Foreign Policy's 2015 Global Thinkers.