Hi-Tech Implants Offer Hope for Medical Disabilities
It sounds like science fiction, but neural prosthetics are a reality, with the potential to change the lives of individuals with a range of medical disabilities including epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and spinal cord injuries.
Neural prosthetics are miniature bioengineered devices that are implanted in the brain. The prosthetics serve as replacements for damaged nerves, just as a prosthetic arm or leg replaces an amputated one, or a cochlear implant simulates the auditory nerve in a deaf ear.
The ongoing research and development of neural prosthetics is a multidisciplinary effort involving neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, materials scientists and mechanical engineers.
Many engineers today are receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health to design neural prosthetics. One key engineering challenge is to create an electronic device that will work for a long time within the unique and dynamic environment of the human body. But the engineers are up for the challenge. Notably, Sarah Felix, research engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, has made significant progress with thin-film flexible polymer materials. These materials are designed to allow devices to conform to the live tissue in which they are implanted.
Other engineers and researchers at Lawrence Livermore are working on neural implants that can restore hearing, assist in speech therapy and help manage depression and epilepsy. Additional programs on the horizon include using deep brain and spinal cord simulation to take neural prosthetics to the next level.
Stay tuned: scientists and engineers at major research centers throughout the United States will expand the use of neural prosthetics to improve an increasing range of medical conditions in the years to come.
Neural prosthetics are miniature bioengineered devices that are implanted in the brain. The prosthetics serve as replacements for damaged nerves, just as a prosthetic arm or leg replaces an amputated one, or a cochlear implant simulates the auditory nerve in a deaf ear.
The ongoing research and development of neural prosthetics is a multidisciplinary effort involving neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, materials scientists and mechanical engineers.
Many engineers today are receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health to design neural prosthetics. One key engineering challenge is to create an electronic device that will work for a long time within the unique and dynamic environment of the human body. But the engineers are up for the challenge. Notably, Sarah Felix, research engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, has made significant progress with thin-film flexible polymer materials. These materials are designed to allow devices to conform to the live tissue in which they are implanted.
Other engineers and researchers at Lawrence Livermore are working on neural implants that can restore hearing, assist in speech therapy and help manage depression and epilepsy. Additional programs on the horizon include using deep brain and spinal cord simulation to take neural prosthetics to the next level.
Stay tuned: scientists and engineers at major research centers throughout the United States will expand the use of neural prosthetics to improve an increasing range of medical conditions in the years to come.
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