Discover the Science of Health
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University are developing a new early warning system for seizures that is sensitive enough to detect imminent seizures without setting off a large number of false alarms. The software may someday be embedded in a microchip that would continually check electrical activity in the brain and launch electrical stimulation whenever a seizure is beginning to form.
MIT researchers have developed a new fuel cell that could be used to power brain implants in coming years [1]. Just like human cells, the fuel cells run on glucose, which is the most common sugar in nature and in the human body. Human cells derive energy from glucose through a process called oxidation — a part of metabolism — that takes electrons from the glucose and passes those electrons from enzyme to enzyme in the cell, generating the energy molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
The BrainGate Company is a privately-held firm focused on the creation of technology that will allow severely disabled individuals, including those with traumatic spinal cord injury and loss of limbs, to communicate and control common everyday functions by thought alone.
The BrainGate neural interface system consists of a sensor to monitor brain signals together with computer software and hardware, which turns brain signals into digital commands for external devices. This is a type of brain-computer interface intended to put robotics and other assistive technology under the brain’s control. The size of a baby aspirin, the sensor contains 100 hair-thin electrodes that can record the activity of small groups of brain cells. It is implanted into the motor cortex, a part of the brain that directs movement.
Reflecting a convergence of skills and advances in electrical engineering, materials science and neurosurgery, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia have developed a flexible brain implant that conforms to the brain’s surface and may make possible a whole new generation of brain-computer interfaces for treating neurological and psychiatric illness and research.
