'Smart' Prosthetics Restore Independence To People With Disabilities
People with paralysis can stand and move without a wheelchair. They
can operate computers to read email and play video games. Brown
University neuroscientist John Donoghue said these recent achievements
are previews of a major promise of neurotechnology - restoring movement
control and communication to people immobilized by injury or disease.
"We're at the dawn of a new age of neurotechnology," Donoghue said.
"Thanks to advances in biology, medicine, computer science and
engineering, we can repair the human nervous system - not with tissue
but with technology. Nearly 100,000 people have cochlear implants that
provide a sense of sound to the deaf. Retinal implants are in
development to restore sight to the blind. And there several systems
being created that will help people living with paralysis. Someday,
using their own muscles, people with paralysis will be able to feed
themselves or perhaps even walk. These electronic devices will allow
them to lead more independent lives."
Donoghue will discussed the fast-growing field of neuroprosthetics at a
press briefing at the annual meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general
scientific society. At the meeting, held in San Francisco, Donoghue
took part in a symposium titled "Smart Prosthetics: Interfaces to the
Nervous System Help Restore Independence."
Donoghue, the Henry Merritt Wriston Professor at Brown and director of
the University's Brain Science Program, is a leader in neuroprosthesis
research and development. At the press briefing and in the symposium,
he gave an overview of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) - systems that
create a direct communication pathway between the brain and an external
device such as a computer or a wheelchair.
One example of a BCI is BrainGate, the mind-to-movement system that got
its start in the Donoghue laboratory at Brown. BrainGate consists of an
implantable sensor and external processors that record and interpret
brain signals from the motor cortex, turning the brain's electrical
signals into movement commands that can control assistive devices.
The BrainGate system has allowed people with paralysis to operate a
computer in order to read e-mail, control a wheelchair and operate a
robotic hand in FDA-approved pilot clinical trials. Donoghue oversees
the trials in his role as chief scientific officer of Cyberkinetics
Neurotechnology Systems Inc., the Foxborough, Mass., company developing
and testing the technology.
Donoghue is also working with symposium organizer P. Hunter Peckham, a
professor of biomedical engineering and orthopaedics at Case Western
Reserve University, to develop a neuroprosthetic system that can
restore partial arm and hand function to people with paralysis.
The system will connect the BrainGate sensor with Peckham's functional
electrical stimulation (FES) system, which uses electrical impulses to
trigger muscle and limb movement. The first version will allow users to
make simple movements that could be used to perform tasks such as
eating or drinking - using their own arms and hands and under the
natural control of their own brains. The initial version of this FES
system would use arm supports. Later versions, however, won't require
supports - and will allow users to do activities that require more
dexterity, such as using cell phones or remote controls.
Donoghue and Peckham will complete a prototype within four years under
a contract with the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research
at the National Institutes of Health.
"This system will represent a quantum leap in rehabilitation
technology," Donoghue said, "and it will fundamentally alter the lives
of people with spinal cord injury."
Brown University
Source: Medical News Today
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