Minimally Invasive “Stentrode” Shows Potential as Neural Interface for Brain
From: Medical Design Technology - 02/10/2016

A DARPA-funded research team has created a novel neural-recording device that
can be implanted into the brain through blood vessels, reducing the need for
invasive surgery and the risks associated with breaching the blood-brain
barrier. The technology was developed under DARPA’s Reliable Neural-Interface
Technology (RE-NET) program, and offers new potential for safely expanding
the use of brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) to treat physical disabilities and
neurological disorders.

Whereas traditional electrode arrays are implanted into the brain through a
surgical procedure that requires opening the skull, the new device, dubbed
the "stentrode,"  is delivered via catheter angiography, a much lower-risk
procedure. The catheter is inserted into a blood vessel in the neck.
Researchers then use real-time imaging to guide the stentrode to a precise
location in the brain, where the stentrode then expands and attaches to the
walls of the blood vessel to read the activity of nearby neurons.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.mdtmag.com/news/2016/02/minimally-invasive-stentrode-shows-potential-neural-interface-brain

Links:
New Device Could Enable Brain Control of Exoskeletons
http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/news/2016/02/new-device-could-enable-brain-control-exoskeletons

Reliable Neural-Interface Technology (RE-NET) program
http://www.darpa.mil/program/re-net-reliable-peripheral-interfaces

Doug Weber
http://www.darpa.mil/staff/dr-douglas-weber

Stentrode in action (video 0:39)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB3H3wHwO24

Nicholas Opie on the revolutionary stentrode device (video 1:16)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS4lo-LliWc

Terence O'Brien on the revolutionary stentrode device (video 1:53)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyjahgs_FmQ

Thomas Oxley on the revolutionary stentrode device (video 1:48)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM7YPFa34Po

Building a Bionic Spine
https://www.mdtmag.com/article/2016/09/feature-building-bionic-spine

Related:
Imagine Controlling an Exoskeleton with the Power of Thought
http://www.rehabpub.com/2016/02/imagine-controlling-exoskeleton-power-thought