Nerves of silicon: Neural chips eyed for brain repair
From: EE Times - March 17, 2003 - page 1
By: Rick Merritt
 
Researchers at the crossroads of medicine and electronics are developing
implantable silicon neurons that one day could carry out the functions of a
part of the brain that has been damaged by stroke, epilepsy or Alzheimer's
disease. 

The use of neural chips to replace brain functions is "mostly in an
animal-research phase now. Work in humans could be five or 10 years away,"
said Metin Akay, an associate professor of psychology and brain sciences at
Dartmouth College and chairman of the first international conference on
neural engineering, to be held this week in Capri, Italy. But some of the
roughly 180 papers to be presented in Capri give tantalizing hints of the
potential of this emerging technology. 

"We are trying to figure out how to develop a prosthetic that allows one part
of the brain to talk to another," said Theodore Berger, director of the
center for neural engineering at the University of Southern California and
one of the researchers at the forefront of the implantable-neuron effort.
"We've done all the pieces of the problem and now we are trying to fit them
together," said Berger, who has prepared a paper on his work for the meeting.  

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http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030317S0013