‘Bionic spinal cord’ breakthrough offers new hope for paraplegics

Australian researchers have created a “bionic spinal cord” they say could give paralysed people hope of walking again through the power of thought, without resorting to open brain surgery. The system would use a device the size of a paperclip implanted in a blood vessel next to the brain. The stent-based electrode would record the brain activity needed for movement and this would be translated into commands to control wheelchairs, exoskeletons, prosthetic limbs or computers.

Our vision, through this device, is to return function and mobility to patients with complete paralysis by recording brain activity and converting the acquired signals into electrical commands, which in turn would lead to movement of the limbs through a mobility assist device like an exoskeleton.

Researcher Thomas Oxley

Researcher Thomas Oxley, a neurologist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and research fellow at The Florey Institute of Neurosciences and the University of Melbourne, described the device, or stentrode, as revolutionary. The research, which will see the first in-human trial at The Royal Melbourne Hospital in 2017, was published Tuesday in Nature Biotechnology. It shows the device could record high-quality signals emitted from the brain’s motor cortex, without the need for open brain surgery, based on research using sheep. Brain-machine interface is one of the main areas of research in paralysis treatment.

We are essentially trying to do the exact same thing [as a cardiac pacemaker] for the brain. Go up a vein, leave it there, and have a lifetime of recordings coming out of it.

Thomas Oxley

bionic spinal cord