Researchers from the University of Melbourne have developed a new device that can be implanted into a blood vessel next to the brain's motor cortex to record high-quality neural signals. These types of signals have been successfully translated into movement commands for bionic prosthetics and exoskeletons in pre-clinical trials, and hypothetically, this sort of neural activity could be translated into commands for a variety of computer systems.

The electrode device uses a stent, or a tubular support, that holds the blood vessel open. The "stentrode" could allow people with spinal cord injuries to walk again with the help of an exoskeleton by bypassing the natural neural connections—which are damaged in the case of a spinal cord injury—and sending signals directly from the implanted device to a bionic system. The stentrode device could also help with a variety of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, conditions that are usually combated with deep brain stimulation, a procedure that involves major brain surgery to implant a neurostimulator into the brain.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Past research funded by DARPA—which also helped fund the development of this device—has shown that thought-controlled movement of bionic limbs can be achieved by surgically remapping the remaining nerves of a person who has lost an arm or leg. Control of a variety of computer-driven electronics has also been achieved to some extent by performing complex and dangerous open brain surgery and implanting electrodes beneath the surface of the brain.

The University of Melbourne's new brain machine interface, which is about the size of a small paperclip, can be implanted into a blood vessel near the brain in a quick and simple procedure and still measure high-quality brain signals. It also has advantages over other surgery techniques that remap nerve connections because it can accurately measure signals from the brain's motor cortex to potentially do a variety of things, not just move a prosthetic limb.

"Utilizing stent technology, our electrode array self-expands to stick to the inside wall of a vein, enabling us to record local brain activity," Dr. Nicholas Opie, a biomedical engineer at the University of Melbourne, said in a press release. "By extracting the recorded neural signals, we can use these as commands to control wheelchairs, exoskeletons, prosthetic limbs or computers."

The researchers hope to implant the stentrode device in humans sometime in 2017. The Royal Melbourne Hospital will carry out the procedure and recipients of the device will be selected from the Austin Health Victorian Spinal Cord Service.

"In our first-in-human trial… we are hoping to achieve direct brain control of an exoskeleton for three people with paralysis," Opie said in the press release.

If the human trials are successful, the device could have future applications not only for prosthetics and exoskeletons, but also as a method of controlling computers through thought. Neuroscientists have been trying to connect electrical signals in the brain with electronic devices for about half a century, with early experiments demonstrating that small shocks to parts of the brain can control the behavior of animals. In the 1980s, neuroscientists discovered that they could record and analyze the firings of brain signals in monkeys to accurately predict how the animals were going to move.

Some bold experiments have also been conducted on humans in an attempt to achieve thought-controlled computers, sometimes with frightening side effects. The University of Melbourne's implantable device could potentially allow for ambitious future research in the field of thought-controlled devices without the dangers of major surgical operations on the brain.

Source: The University of Melbourne

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io