BrainGate Neural Interface System Reaches 1,000-Day Performance Milestone From: Brown University - 03/24/2011 By: David Orenstein More than 1,000 days after Brown University researchers implanted the BrainGate system into a woman with paralysis, giving her the ability to control a computer cursor accurately through neural activity alone, the system still works. "This proof of concept ... is an important step for the field," says Brown professor Leigh Hochberg. The woman performed two point-and-click tasks by thinking about moving the cursor with her hand, averaging better than 90 percent accuracy in both tests. "These results highlight the potential for an intracortical neural interface system to provide a person that has locked-in syndrome with reliable, continuous point-and-click control of a standard computer application," says Brown professor John Simeral. The BrainGate system combines hardware and software to sense electrical signals produced by neurons in the brain. The system uses a tiny silicon electrode array to read the neural signals in the brain tissue. "This is the first demonstration that this microelectrode array technology can provide useful neuroprosthetic signals allowing a person with tetraplegia to control an external device for an extended period of time," Hochberg says. Although fewer electrodes were recording data when the device was analyzed 2.7 years after it was implanted, the researchers attributed the decreased signal quality to engineering, mechanical, or procedural issues. Read the entire article at: http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2011/03/braingate Links: BrainGate http://www.braingate2.org/ Neural control of cursor trajectory and click by a human with tetraplegia 1000 days after implant of an intracortical microelectrode array http://iopscience.iop.org/1741-2552/8/2/025027 Leigh R. Hochberg, MD, PhD http://www.braingate2.org/hochberg.asp http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1126911768 http://med.brown.edu/mppb/faculty/facultypage.php?id=1126911768&type=bmetrainer