A neuroscientist at Cedars-Sinai has been awarded a $620,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to advance his work involving motor disabilities caused by strokes, the hospital announced Tuesday.

Tanuj Gulati, 36, called the Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award “a turning point in my career.”

The award was created to support early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the missions of their departments or organizations.

Over the next five years, Gulati plans to use the grant funding for his work on using brain-machine interfaces — or neuroprosthetics, an assistive technology that allow direct mind control over external devices such as a robotic arm or a computer cursor for motor disabilities caused by strokes.

“My long-term goal, now made possible with this coveted award, is to understand how a neuroprosthetic skill is learned in the brain using animal models, then translate my findings into tangible solutions for stroke survivors with motor disabilities,” said Gulati, an assistant professor in the departments of Biomedical Sciences and Neurology at Cedars-Sinai.

“Stroke remains the leading cause of motor disability in the United States, creating a vast unmet need for countless patients with limited mobility,” he said.

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