The Silicon Spinal Cord
From: PC Magazine - 08/23/2005 - page 110

Researchers are discovering that the offspring of biology and robotics may be
found in the real world, not just in a Spider-Man movie. By studying the
circuitry that empowers the spinal cord of the lamprey eel, Johns Hopkins
University professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings and University of Maryland
professor Avis Cohen hope to develop an implant that could help paralyzed
individuals walk again. Spinal-cord injuries sever the connection between the
brain and the nerves that send walking instructions to leg muscles.
Rebuilding that connection may not be medically possible, but
Etienne-Cummings and Cohen think they can bypass it - via microprocessors. 

That's where the lamprey eel comes in. As a primitive vertebrate, it creates
its locomotion in much the same way as humans do. By studying how a lamprey
eel's brain transmits electrical images along its spinal cord, the
researchers created a microchip that replicates the process. 

Etienne-Cummings has already used the chip to enable robotic legs to "walk"
(see photo), and hopes to create a similar implant for humans, though that's
still a good ten years away. 

Caption:
One small step taken by this robot represents exciting spinal injury research
based on lamprey eel spines.

Read the article at:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1843439,00.asp

Links:
Ralph Etienne-Cummings
http://etienne.ece.jhu.edu/labweb/people/ralph/index.html
http://etienne.ece.jhu.edu/%7Eetienne/index_old.html

Replicating an Eel's Nerve Circuitry May Aid Paralyzed People
http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home04/dec04/spine.html

Scientists tap eels in search of spinal bypass
http://www.medicaldesign.com/articles/ID/12277

Lamprey May Offer Paralysis Cure
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,66005,00.html?tw=wn_story_related

Avis Cohen
http://www.life.umd.edu/faculty/acohen/

Laboratory for Neural Control of Locomotion
http://www.life.umd.edu/biology/cohenlab/