Prof. Mavi Sanchez-Vives

Bio

Mavi Sanchez-Vives, MD, PhD in Neurosciences, has been an ICREA Research Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Research August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS-Hospital Clínic) since 2008, where she leads the Systems Neuroscience group. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Biophysics Laboratory of Rockefeller University and the Neurobiology Laboratory at Yale University (USA). Her main interests in neuroscience include the generation of brain rhythmic activity, brain states, neurotechnology, and neuromodulation. She was a partner in the Graphene Flagship, where her team worked on new brain interfaces. In the Human Brain Project, she was a member of the Science and Infrastructure Board and led a work package titled “Networks Underlying Cognition and Consciousness.” She has recently been awarded an ERC Synergy project, NEMESIS, on the mechanisms and repair of brain lesions, and leads a European Innovation Council project called META BRAIN, investigating the use of different nanotechnologies for precision brain stimulation. Since 2004, Dr. Sanchez-Vives has also used virtual reality, initially for sensory perception research and to explore VR from a neuroscientific perspective. She has been a pioneer in researching “embodiment” in virtual bodies and its various applications, especially in medicine and psychology. Her team has demonstrated that pain can be modulated through transformations of the virtual body and that virtual embodiment can be a powerful tool for movement rehabilitation. She currently leads the project “XR-PAIN: eXtended Reality-Assisted Therapy for Chronic Pain,” funded by the European Media and Immersion Lab. She has led the use of virtual reality for the rehabilitation of violent behaviors in intimate partner violence, an approach now being used in rehabilitation programs in prisons in Catalonia. Dr. Sanchez-Vives is also one of the co-founders of Kiin, a company that uses virtual reality for immersive training to develop soft skills and enhance collaboration and well-being in organizations. Since 2024 she is a member of the Academia Europaea.

“XR for pain therapy and co-design in the metaverse” Immersive virtual reality, and more broadly, extended reality (XR), is a promising tool for pain management. By manipulating body perception within virtual reality, we have successfully modulated pain thresholds in healthy individuals and pain rates in chronic pain patients. This presentation will discuss various studies exploring the application of VR-based embodiment for pain relief and address challenges and future possibilities. We will also discuss the potential of the metaverse as a platform for conducting patient focus groups. Our study involving patients with low back pain found significant advantages of focus groups in shared virtual spaces, including increased accessibility, enhanced engagement, and improved patient-centered care. By bringing together patients, developers, researchers, doctors, and physiotherapists in the metaverse, we can create a collaborative platform for co-designing optimized pain therapy content. By leveraging scientific and technological advancements, we envision a future where XR plays a critical role in pain management and rehabilitation, with systems for hospital, clinics and home use with remote supervision.

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