Adrian Owen is our chief scientific officer, and a world-renowned neuroscientist. In addition to co-founding Creyos (formerly Cambridge Brain Sciences), he has done incredible work with patients who were assumed to be in a vegetative state—that is, entirely unaware and non-responsive to the outside world.
Through a series of tragedies and triumphs, both personal and scientific, Adrian was able to discover that many of these patients actually have rich inner lives. Their brains and senses were functioning, despite being unable to move or communicate—until Adrian found a way to reach them directly.
He describes this incredible journey in his 2017 book Into the Gray Zone. You can find out more about it at the Into the Gray Zone website.
In the book, Adrian writes: "[Your brain] is every plan you've ever made, every person you've fallen in love with, and every regret you've ever had. Your brain is all there is. It's the pulsating essence of you as a person. Without a brain, our sense of 'self' is reduced to nothing. [It is] the most important lesson in neuroscience—we are our brains."
