
Photo of a current neural implant, that uses wires to transmit information and receive power, by Sergey Stavisky
Stanford researchers have been working for years to advance a technology that could one day help people with paralysis regain use of their limbs, and enable amputees to use their thoughts to control prostheses and interact with computers.
The team has been focusing on improving a brain-computer interface, a device implanted beneath the skull on the surface of a patient’s brain. This implant connects the human nervous system to an electronic device that might, for instance, help restore some motor control to a person with a spinal cord injury, or someone with a neurological condition like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The current generation of these devices record enormous amounts of neural activity, then transmit these brain signals through wires to a computer. But when researchers have tried to create wireless brain-computer interfaces to do this, it took so much power to transmit the data that the devices would generate too much heat to be safe for the patient.
The way to a wireless device
Now, a team led by electrical engineers and neuroscientists Krishna Shenoy, PhD, and Boris Murmann, PhD, and neurosurgeon and neuroscientist Jaimie Henderson, MD, have shown how it would be possible to create a wireless device, capable of gathering and transmitting accurate neural signals, but using a tenth of the power required by current wire-enabled systems. These wireless devices would look more natural than the wired models and give patients freer range of motion.
Graduate student Nir Even-Chen and postdoctoral fellow Dante Muratore, PhD, describe the team’s approach in a Nature Biomedical Engineering paper.
The team’s neuroscientists identified the specific neural signals needed to control a prosthetic device, such as a robotic arm or a computer cursor. The team’s electrical engineers then designed the circuitry that would enable a future, wireless brain-computer interface to process and transmit these these carefully identified and isolated signals, using less power and thus making it safe to implant the device on the surface of the brain.
Testing the idea
To test their idea, the researchers collected neuronal data from three nonhuman primates and one human participant in a (BrainGate) clinical trial.
As the subjects performed movement tasks, such as positioning a cursor on a computer screen, the researchers took measurements. The findings validated their hypothesis that a wireless interface could accurately control an individual’s motion by recording a subset of action-specific brain signals, rather than acting like the wired device and collecting brain signals in bulk.
The next step will be to build an implant based on this new approach and proceed through a series of tests toward the ultimate goal.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Electronic prostheses
- How Does a Biohybrid Device Restore Function in Paralyzed Limbs?
A novel type of neural implant was found to restore limb function to amputees. The implant sheds insights into brain-machine interfaces.
- Electronic skin developed for healthcare as flexible as crocodile skin
For a number of industries, including robotics, prosthetic limbs, healthcare, and rehabilitation, electronic skin with many senses is crucial. Stretchable pressure sensors, which can recognise ...
- FDA Approves First Prosthetic Implant for Above-Knee Amputees
FDA approved the first implant system for adults who have above-the-knee amputations and might not be able to use a conventional socket prosthetic device. The Osseoanchored Prostheses for the ...
- 3D-Printing Resin for Dental Prosthetics Cleared by FDA
Desktop Health announced today that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for Flexcera Base, a proprietary resin for use in 3D printing high-quality dental prosthetics. It reportedly improves on ...
- ‘Very lucky to be here’: Oakdale foundation helps Ukrainian soldiers walk again
Brought to the U.S. by the Protez Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps Ukrainian children, soldiers and civilians get free, high-quality prosthetics in the U.S., the soldiers were ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Electronic prostheses
[google_news title=”” keyword=”electronic prostheses” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Thought controlled electronic prostheses
- A mind-controlled beer-pouring robot has landed
It began as a fun experiment and is now a successful business. The robot reads your mind and pours a beer for you - in this case, a ginger beer. You can see it in action at the Open Studio Day at ...
- A mind-controlled beer-pouring robot has landed
Video by Emma Hallett A mind-controlled beer-pouring robot has landed. Video, 00:01:25A mind-controlled beer-pouring robot has landed Up Next. Police on horseback ride after driver using phone.
- Can a human mind ever be controlled by self-effort?...
Can a human mind ever be controlled by self-effort? [Ms. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: Pādanamaskāram Swami, Lord Datta is the preacher of the preachers. You came here to correct the present time ...
- Mind-controlled transgene expression by a wireless-powered optogenetic designer cell implant
Synthetic devices for traceless remote control of gene expression may provide new treatment opportunities in future gene- and cell-based therapies. Here we report the design of a synthetic mind ...
- Human Quirks: Mind & Brain
Researchers have now successfully grown electrodes in living tissue using the body's molecules as triggers. The result paves the way for the formation of fully integrated electronic ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Thought controlled electronic prostheses
[google_news title=”” keyword=”thought controlled electronic prostheses” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]