Bradley Voyteck
Bradley Voyteck
Discover how Bradley Voytek, Chair of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego and Uber’s first data scientist, is revolutionizing our understanding of brain aging and medical diagnostics through the unexpected connection between neural oscillations and cardiac rhythms. This session offers a masterclass in translating cutting-edge neuroscience research into real-world clinical applications that save lives.
You’ll explore how Voytek’s lab developed the open-source Bicycle tool for cycle-by-cycle waveform analysis, revealing that simple heart parameters can predict physiological age with remarkable ~8-year median absolute error—matching sophisticated deep learning systems. Learn from his groundbreaking collaboration with Philips on predictive cardiac monitoring and discover how a UCSD Health sepsis prediction model reduced mortality by 17%.
This matters because Voytek demonstrates a proven pathway from academic discovery to medical device commercialization. His unique dual-track career—from developing Uber’s demand prediction models to directing an innovative neuroscience lab—provides invaluable insights for anyone looking to accelerate neurotech innovation.
After watching, you’ll be able to analyze neural and cardiac biomarkers of brain aging using quantitative waveform techniques, identify translational pathways from research to commercialization through real case studies, and apply strategic industry-academic partnerships to accelerate your own innovation trajectory.
Learning Objective
• Analyze how neural and cardiac oscillation patterns serve as quantitative biomarkers of brain aging, using the Bicycle tool’s cycle-by-cycle waveform analysis and cardiac parameterization that predicts physiological age with ~8-year median absolute error.
• Identify translational pathways from academic neuroscience to medical device commercialization, using Voytek’s Philips ECG collaboration and the UCSD Health sepsis model, which reduced mortality by 17%, as case studies in academic-industry partnership.
• Apply Voytek’s dual-track career trajectory, from Uber’s first data scientist to academic lab director, to evaluate how industry experience, contextual data literacy, and structured internship models can accelerate neurotech innovation.
Bradley Voyteck
Bradley Voytek is a Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms underlying cognition, with particular emphasis on brain oscillations, neural dynamics, and computational neuroscience. He employs a multidisciplinary approach combining electrophysiology, computational modeling, and data science to investigate how brain activity supports behavior and cognition.
Voytek’s work has broad implications for understanding neurological disorders and advancing brain-computer interfaces. He is also dedicated to open science and reproducibility in neuroscience, actively contributing to the development of tools and resources that promote transparent research practices.
Relevant description of the program or curriculum: Bradley Voytek is a Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science, the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, and the Neurosciences Graduate Program at UC San Diego. He is both an Alfred P. Sloan Neuroscience Research Fellow and a Kavli Fellow of the National Academies of Sciences, as well as a founding faculty member of the UC San Diego Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute and the Undergraduate Data Science program. After his PhD at UC Berkeley, he joined Uber as their first data scientist—when it was a 10-person startup—where he helped build their data science strategy and team.
His research lab combines large-scale data science and machine learning to study how brain regions communicate with one another, and how that communication changes with aging and disease. He is an advocate for promoting science to the public and speaks extensively with students at all grade levels about the joys of scientific research and discovery. In addition to his academic publications, his outreach work has appeared in outlets ranging from Scientific American and NPR to the San Diego Comic-Con. He is currently writing a book with neuroscientist Ashley Juavinett regarding the powerful future of data science in neuroscience discovery, though his most important contribution to science is his book with fellow neuroscientist Tim Verstynen, “Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?”, by Princeton University Press.
Resources
This article compiles 99 practical tips and strategies, or “lab hacks,” aimed at streamlining various aspects of scientific research and laboratory work. The resource covers topics such as efficient experiment setup, data management, troubleshooting, and time-saving techniques. Its core value lies in providing actionable advice from experienced researchers to help learners and professionals improve productivity, reduce errors, and foster a more organized lab environment.