Profile

The Laboratory for Neurorehabilitation Science (LNS) is an interdisciplinary team of physicians, psychologists and engineers working at the intersection between fundamental and clinical neurorehabilitation sciences.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Tit. Lucas Spierer focuses on Clinical Neuroscience in the Medicine Section of the University of Fribourg, where he directs the Laboratory for Neurorehabilitation Science. He is also co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of BeweLab SA, a university spin-off at Biopôle Lausanne developing digital therapeutics for craving and reward-related disorders.

Over the past 15 years, his research programme on training-induced brain plasticity has attracted over 2,400 citations and secured CHF 4.3 million in competitive funding (CHF 2.6M as PI), including five SNSF grants as principal investigator. He has directed 10 doctoral theses and supervised 8 postdoctoral researchers, with former trainees holding positions in research, clinical practice, IT and ethics committees.

His current programme investigates how cognitive training reshapes the brain's reward processing and translates those mechanisms into smartphone-based clinical interventions. The work spans neuroimaging (high-density EEG, electrical neuroimaging), computational modelling, and large-scale app-based randomised controlled trials across food, alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco domains. A central output is the Motivational Salience Index (MSI), a patented behavioural biomarker that infers craving from implicit cognitive task performance, enabling objective real-time monitoring without self-report.

He has published 11 Registered Reports to date, making the lab one of the most consistent adopters of this open-science format internationally. His laboratory was the first in Switzerland to produce doctoral theses composed entirely of Registered Reports.

Recognition

Pfizer Research Prize 2026 (Digital Health), one of Switzerland's most prestigious medical research awards
Fribourg Innovation Award (Start-up Prize, 2022)
Venture Kick laureate (all three stages, top 10% acceptance rate)
Future of Health Grant (CSS / EPFL Innovation Park, top 10%)
Best Doctoral Thesis, Clinical Research Award, and Investigator in Training Award (University of Lausanne)
Grant reviewer for the US NSF, French ANR, Austrian FWF, Flemish FWO, Dutch NWO, and SNSF
Invited editor, e.g. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences (Elsevier)

Lab at a glance

Team: ~5 members (PhD students, postdocs, engineers, senior researchers) plus master and bachelor students
Research verticals: Affective learning · Response training interventions · Digital behavioural biomarkers
International collaborations (selected): Stanford Medicine (E. Stice lab), UCLA (M. Craske lab), and independent platform adoptions (e.g. Prof. Coppin, University of Geneva)
Infrastructure: Brain Imaging and Stimulation Platform (BIS), Faculty of Science and Medicine
Funding (selected): SNSF, Velux Foundation, Novartis Foundation, Swiss Foundation for Alcohol Research, Nestar Foundation
Open science: All confirmatory trials as Registered Reports; data and code on OSF

Technology transfer

The lab's translational work is structured through BeweLab SA (bewe.com), a University of Fribourg spin-off based at Biopôle Lausanne. BeweLab develops and commercialises the digital tools emerging from the research programme, including a gamified cognitive training platform and the patented MSI biomarker technology. The platform has been deployed in clinical centres (EHC, CPNO), integrated into insurer prevention programmes (CSS pilot), and reached over 2,000 downloads with a net promoter score exceeding 70.

BeweLab has been selected as laureate of the Biopôle Clinical Top-Up investment programme to conduct clinical trials evaluating the training platform as a companion to GLP-1 receptor agonist therapies. The company also participates in the CHanGE programme (Swiss federal pilot for regulated cannabis distribution, Canton of Geneva).

All studies are sponsored and conducted by the university under formal conflict-of-interest management with the KTT office. Preregistered analyses are locked before unblinding, and BeweLab does not access identifiable participant data.

Visit BeweLab

Brain Imaging and Stimulation Platform

The lab runs the Brain Imaging and Stimulation Platform (BIS) of the Faculty of Science and Medicine, providing state-of-the-art equipment and methodological training for clinical and fundamental cognitive neuroscience research.