22-05-2010, 11:35 PM
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Introduction
BrainGate is a brain implant system developed by the bio-tech company Cyberkinetics in 2003 in conjunction with the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University. The device was designed to help those who have lost control of their limbs, or other bodily functions, such as patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or spinal cord injury. The computer chip, which is implanted into the brain, monitors brain activity in the patient and converts the intention of the user into computer commands. Cyberkinetics describes that "such applications may include novel communications interfaces for motor impaired patients, as well as the monitoring and treatment of certain diseases which manifest themselves in patterns of brain activity, such as epilepsy and depression."
Currently the chip uses 100 hair-thin electrodes that sense the electro-magnetic signature of neurons firing in specific areas of the brain, for example, the area that controls arm movement. The activities are translated into electrically charged signals and are then sent and decoded using a program, which can move either a robotic arm or a computer cursor. According to the Cyberkinetics' website, three patients have been implanted with the BrainGate system. The company has confirmed that one patient (Matt Nagle) has a spinal cord injury, while another has advanced ALS.
The remarkable breakthrough offers hope that people who are paralyzed will one day be able to independently operate artificial limbs, computers or wheelchairs. The implant, called BrainGate, allowed Matthew Nagle, a 25-year-old Massachusetts man who has been paralyzed from the neck down since 2001, to control a cursor on a screen and to open and close the hand on a prosthetic limb just by thinking about the relevant actions.
The movements were his first since he was stabbed five years ago. The attack severed his spinal cord. "The results hold out the promise to one day be able to activate limb muscles with these brain signals, effectively restoring brain to muscle control via a physical nervous system," said John Donoghue, director of the brain science program at Brown University, Rhode Island, and chief scientific officer of Cyberkinetics, the company behind the brain implant. Professor Donoghue's work is published today in Nature. He describes how, after a few minutes spent calibrating the implant, Mr. Nagle could read emails and play the computer game Pong. He was able to draw circular shapes using a paint program and could also change channel and turn up the volume on a television, even while talking to people around him. After several months, he could also operate simple robotic devices such as a prosthetic hand, which he used to grasp and move objects.
In addition to real-time analysis of neuron patterns to relay movement, the Braingate array is also capable of recording electrical data for later analysis. A potential use of this feature would be for a neurologist to study seizure patterns in a patient with epilepsy. The 'BrainGate' device can provide paralyzed or motor-impaired patients a mode of communication through the translation of thought into direct computer control. The technology driving this breakthrough in the Brain-Machine-Interface field has a myriad of potential applications, including the development of human augmentation for military and commercial purposes.
The Braingate Neural Interface device consists of a tiny chip containing 100 microscopic electrodes that is surgically implanted in the brain's motor cortex. The whole apparatus is the size of a baby aspirin. The chip can read signals from the motor cortex, send that information to a computer via connected wires, and translate it to control the movement of a computer cursor or a robotic arm. According to Dr. John Donaghue of Cyberkinetics, there is practically no training required to use BrainGate because the signals read by a chip implanted, for example, in the area of the motor cortex for arm movement, are the same signals that would be sent to the real arm. A user with an implanted chip can immediately begin to move a cursor with thought alone. However, because movement carries a variety of information such as velocity, direction, and acceleration, there are many neurons involved in controlling that movement. BrainGate is only reading signals from an extremely small sample of those cells and, therefore, only receiving a fraction of the instructions. Without all of the information, the initial control of a robotic hand may not be as smooth as the natural movement of a real hand. But with practice, the user can refine those movements using signals from only that sample of cells.
The BrainGate technology platform was designed to take advantage of the fact that many patients with motor impairment have an intact brain that can produce movement commands. This may allow the BrainGate system to create an output signal directly from the brain, bypassing the route through the nerves to the muscles that cannot be used in paralyzed people.
Braingate is currently recruiting patients with a range of neuromuscular and neurodegenerative conditions for pilot clinical trials in the United States. Cyberkinetics hopes to refine the BrainGate in the next two years to develop a wireless device that is completely implantable and doesn't have a plug, making it safer and less visible. And once the basics of brain mapping are worked out there is potential for a wide variety of further applications, Surgenor explains."If you could detect or predict the onset of epilepsy, which would be a huge therapeutic application for people who have seizures, which leads to the idea of a 'pacemaker for the brain'. So eventually people may have this technology in their brains and if something starts to go wrong it will take a therapeutic action. That could be available by 2007 to 2008."
HISTORY
After 10 years of study and research, Cyberkinetics, a biotech company in Foxboro, Massachusetts, has developed BrainGate in 2003. Dr. John Donaghue, director of the brain science program at Brown University, Rhode Island, and chief scientific officer of Cyberkinetics, the company behind the brain implant, lead the team to research and develop this brain implant system.
BRAINGATE NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM
The BrainGate Neural Interface System is currently the subject of a pilot clinical trial being conducted under an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA. The system is designed to restore functionality for a limited, immobile group of severely motor-impaired individuals. It is expected that people using the BrainGate System will employ a personal computer as the gateway to a range of self-directed activities. These activities may extend beyond typical computer functions (e.g., communication) to include the control of objects in the environment such as a telephone, a television and lights.
The BrainGate System is based on Cyberkinetics' platform technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons. The System consists of a sensor that is implanted on the motor cortex of the brain and a device that analyzes brain signals. The principle of operation behind the BrainGate System is that with intact brain function, brain signals are generated even though they are not sent to the arms, hands and legs. The signals are interpreted and translated into cursor movements, offering the user an alternate "BrainGate pathway" to control a computer with thought, just as individuals who have the ability to move their hands use a mouse.
Cyberkinetics is further developing the BrainGate System to potentially provide limb movement to people with severe motor disabilities. The goal of this development program would be to allow these individuals to one day use their own arms and hands again. Limb movement developments are currently at the research stage and are not available for use with the existing BrainGate System. In addition Cyberkinetics is developing products to allow for robotic control, such as a thought-controlled wheelchair.
In the future, the BrainGate System could be used by those individuals whose injuries are less severe. Next generation products may be able to provide an individual with the ability to control devices that allow breathing, bladder and bowel movements.
ABOUT THE BRAINGATE DEVICE
The braingate pilot device consists of a Sensor of the size of a contact lens, a cable and pedestal, which connects the chip to the computer, a cart which consists the signal processing unit .
The BrainGate Neural Interface Device is a proprietary brain-computer interface that consists of an internal neural signal sensor and external processors that convert neural signals into an output signal under the users own control. The sensor consists of a tiny chip smaller than a baby aspirin, with one hundred electrode sensors each thinner than a hair that detect brain cell electrical activity.
The chip is implanted on the surface of the brain in the motor cortex area that controls movement. In the pilot version of the device, a cable connects the sensor to an external signal processor in a cart that contains computers. The computers translate brain activity and create the communication output using custom decoding software. Importantly, the entire BrainGate system was specifically designed for clinical use in humans and thus, its manufacture, assembly and testing are intended to meet human safety requirements. Five quadriplegics patients in all are enrolled in the pilot study, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Existing technology stimulates muscle groups that can make an arm move. The problem Surgenor and his team faced was in creating an input or control signal. With the right control signal they found they could stimulate the right muscle groups to make arm movement.
PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY
Neurons are cells that use a language of electrical impulses to communicate messages from the brain to the rest of the body. At Cyberkinetics, we have the technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons. We are developing products to restore function, as well as to monitor, detect, and respond to a variety of neurological diseases and disorders.
Cyberkinetics offers a systems approach with a core technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons in both short and long-term settings. Our platform technology is based on the results of several years of research and development at premier academic institutions such as Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emory University, and the University of Utah.
SENSE
Cyberkinetics' unique technology is able to simultaneously sense the electrical activity of many individual neurons. Our sensor consists of a silicon array about the size of a baby aspirin that contains one hundred electrodes, each thinner than a human hair. The array is implanted on the surface of the brain. In the BrainGate
Introduction
BrainGate is a brain implant system developed by the bio-tech company Cyberkinetics in 2003 in conjunction with the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University. The device was designed to help those who have lost control of their limbs, or other bodily functions, such as patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or spinal cord injury. The computer chip, which is implanted into the brain, monitors brain activity in the patient and converts the intention of the user into computer commands. Cyberkinetics describes that "such applications may include novel communications interfaces for motor impaired patients, as well as the monitoring and treatment of certain diseases which manifest themselves in patterns of brain activity, such as epilepsy and depression."
Currently the chip uses 100 hair-thin electrodes that sense the electro-magnetic signature of neurons firing in specific areas of the brain, for example, the area that controls arm movement. The activities are translated into electrically charged signals and are then sent and decoded using a program, which can move either a robotic arm or a computer cursor. According to the Cyberkinetics' website, three patients have been implanted with the BrainGate system. The company has confirmed that one patient (Matt Nagle) has a spinal cord injury, while another has advanced ALS.
The remarkable breakthrough offers hope that people who are paralyzed will one day be able to independently operate artificial limbs, computers or wheelchairs. The implant, called BrainGate, allowed Matthew Nagle, a 25-year-old Massachusetts man who has been paralyzed from the neck down since 2001, to control a cursor on a screen and to open and close the hand on a prosthetic limb just by thinking about the relevant actions.
The movements were his first since he was stabbed five years ago. The attack severed his spinal cord. "The results hold out the promise to one day be able to activate limb muscles with these brain signals, effectively restoring brain to muscle control via a physical nervous system," said John Donoghue, director of the brain science program at Brown University, Rhode Island, and chief scientific officer of Cyberkinetics, the company behind the brain implant. Professor Donoghue's work is published today in Nature. He describes how, after a few minutes spent calibrating the implant, Mr. Nagle could read emails and play the computer game Pong. He was able to draw circular shapes using a paint program and could also change channel and turn up the volume on a television, even while talking to people around him. After several months, he could also operate simple robotic devices such as a prosthetic hand, which he used to grasp and move objects.
In addition to real-time analysis of neuron patterns to relay movement, the Braingate array is also capable of recording electrical data for later analysis. A potential use of this feature would be for a neurologist to study seizure patterns in a patient with epilepsy. The 'BrainGate' device can provide paralyzed or motor-impaired patients a mode of communication through the translation of thought into direct computer control. The technology driving this breakthrough in the Brain-Machine-Interface field has a myriad of potential applications, including the development of human augmentation for military and commercial purposes.
The Braingate Neural Interface device consists of a tiny chip containing 100 microscopic electrodes that is surgically implanted in the brain's motor cortex. The whole apparatus is the size of a baby aspirin. The chip can read signals from the motor cortex, send that information to a computer via connected wires, and translate it to control the movement of a computer cursor or a robotic arm. According to Dr. John Donaghue of Cyberkinetics, there is practically no training required to use BrainGate because the signals read by a chip implanted, for example, in the area of the motor cortex for arm movement, are the same signals that would be sent to the real arm. A user with an implanted chip can immediately begin to move a cursor with thought alone. However, because movement carries a variety of information such as velocity, direction, and acceleration, there are many neurons involved in controlling that movement. BrainGate is only reading signals from an extremely small sample of those cells and, therefore, only receiving a fraction of the instructions. Without all of the information, the initial control of a robotic hand may not be as smooth as the natural movement of a real hand. But with practice, the user can refine those movements using signals from only that sample of cells.
The BrainGate technology platform was designed to take advantage of the fact that many patients with motor impairment have an intact brain that can produce movement commands. This may allow the BrainGate system to create an output signal directly from the brain, bypassing the route through the nerves to the muscles that cannot be used in paralyzed people.
Braingate is currently recruiting patients with a range of neuromuscular and neurodegenerative conditions for pilot clinical trials in the United States. Cyberkinetics hopes to refine the BrainGate in the next two years to develop a wireless device that is completely implantable and doesn't have a plug, making it safer and less visible. And once the basics of brain mapping are worked out there is potential for a wide variety of further applications, Surgenor explains."If you could detect or predict the onset of epilepsy, which would be a huge therapeutic application for people who have seizures, which leads to the idea of a 'pacemaker for the brain'. So eventually people may have this technology in their brains and if something starts to go wrong it will take a therapeutic action. That could be available by 2007 to 2008."
HISTORY
After 10 years of study and research, Cyberkinetics, a biotech company in Foxboro, Massachusetts, has developed BrainGate in 2003. Dr. John Donaghue, director of the brain science program at Brown University, Rhode Island, and chief scientific officer of Cyberkinetics, the company behind the brain implant, lead the team to research and develop this brain implant system.
BRAINGATE NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM
The BrainGate Neural Interface System is currently the subject of a pilot clinical trial being conducted under an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA. The system is designed to restore functionality for a limited, immobile group of severely motor-impaired individuals. It is expected that people using the BrainGate System will employ a personal computer as the gateway to a range of self-directed activities. These activities may extend beyond typical computer functions (e.g., communication) to include the control of objects in the environment such as a telephone, a television and lights.
The BrainGate System is based on Cyberkinetics' platform technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons. The System consists of a sensor that is implanted on the motor cortex of the brain and a device that analyzes brain signals. The principle of operation behind the BrainGate System is that with intact brain function, brain signals are generated even though they are not sent to the arms, hands and legs. The signals are interpreted and translated into cursor movements, offering the user an alternate "BrainGate pathway" to control a computer with thought, just as individuals who have the ability to move their hands use a mouse.
Cyberkinetics is further developing the BrainGate System to potentially provide limb movement to people with severe motor disabilities. The goal of this development program would be to allow these individuals to one day use their own arms and hands again. Limb movement developments are currently at the research stage and are not available for use with the existing BrainGate System. In addition Cyberkinetics is developing products to allow for robotic control, such as a thought-controlled wheelchair.
In the future, the BrainGate System could be used by those individuals whose injuries are less severe. Next generation products may be able to provide an individual with the ability to control devices that allow breathing, bladder and bowel movements.
ABOUT THE BRAINGATE DEVICE
The braingate pilot device consists of a Sensor of the size of a contact lens, a cable and pedestal, which connects the chip to the computer, a cart which consists the signal processing unit .
The BrainGate Neural Interface Device is a proprietary brain-computer interface that consists of an internal neural signal sensor and external processors that convert neural signals into an output signal under the users own control. The sensor consists of a tiny chip smaller than a baby aspirin, with one hundred electrode sensors each thinner than a hair that detect brain cell electrical activity.
The chip is implanted on the surface of the brain in the motor cortex area that controls movement. In the pilot version of the device, a cable connects the sensor to an external signal processor in a cart that contains computers. The computers translate brain activity and create the communication output using custom decoding software. Importantly, the entire BrainGate system was specifically designed for clinical use in humans and thus, its manufacture, assembly and testing are intended to meet human safety requirements. Five quadriplegics patients in all are enrolled in the pilot study, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Existing technology stimulates muscle groups that can make an arm move. The problem Surgenor and his team faced was in creating an input or control signal. With the right control signal they found they could stimulate the right muscle groups to make arm movement.
PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY
Neurons are cells that use a language of electrical impulses to communicate messages from the brain to the rest of the body. At Cyberkinetics, we have the technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons. We are developing products to restore function, as well as to monitor, detect, and respond to a variety of neurological diseases and disorders.
Cyberkinetics offers a systems approach with a core technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons in both short and long-term settings. Our platform technology is based on the results of several years of research and development at premier academic institutions such as Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emory University, and the University of Utah.
SENSE
Cyberkinetics' unique technology is able to simultaneously sense the electrical activity of many individual neurons. Our sensor consists of a silicon array about the size of a baby aspirin that contains one hundred electrodes, each thinner than a human hair. The array is implanted on the surface of the brain. In the BrainGate
