Brain-Computer Interface, Developed at Brown, Begins New Clinical Trial
From: Brown University - 06/10/2009
By: Mark Hollmer

The second clinical trial of the BrainGate Neural Interface System developed
at Brown University is about to start at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
in Boston. BrainGate is based on research and technology developed by
professor John Donoghue, director of the Brown Institute for Brain Science.
"The goal of our research is to harness the brain signals that ordinarily
accompany movement and to translate those signals into actions on a computer,
like moving a cursor on the screen, or the movement of a robotic or
prosthetic limb," says fellow Brown professor and MGH neurologist Leigh
Hochberg, who is leading the research with Donoghue. It was demonstrated in
an earlier clinical trial that a computer can decode the neural signals
associated with the intent to move a limb in real time and use them to
operate external devices. The BrainGate interface involves a sensor implanted
on a section of a study participant's motor cortex, and in earlier research
sessions the computer was linked to the sensor via a pedestal on the
subject's head. "We learned an incredible amount with the assistance of the
first participants in the BrainGate trial, not only about how the motor
cortex continues to work after paralyzing illness or injury, but also about
how to harness these powerful intracortical signals for controlling computers
and other assistive devices," Hochberg says. The hardware and software that
decodes brain signals used to control assistive devices will be refined in
the BrainGate2 trials. BrainGate2 is part of a larger research initiative to
develop point-and-click capabilities on a computer screen, control a
prosthetic limb or a robotic arm, control functional electrical stimulation
of nerves severed from the brain due to paralysis, and further expand the
neuroscience behind the field of intracortical neurotechnology. 

Read the entire article at:
http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2009/06/braingate2

Link:
BrainGate2
http://www.braingate2.org