An implant without implantation

The new implant, which does not require surgical intervention, will help restore vision in blind people

DailyTechInfo based on the materials of Next Big Future: New brain implant design is meant to restore vision to the blind

Experiments during which paralyzed people could control an automated manipulator "with the power of thought" or blind people saw vague images have already proved the great potential of computer systems that transmit and receive signals from the brain using various types of implants. But the embedded electrode matrices used in most such cases become useless after a while due to the fact that a protective layer of scar-like tissues grows around them, which worsen the electrical contact of the electrodes with the cells of the nerve tissues of the brain.

But next month, researchers from Harvard University Medical School will begin testing a new implant on monkeys, which does not require surgical intervention and is installed outside the skull, which will avoid the occurrence of the problem described above. And in the long term, this work may lead to the development of high-quality devices that restore vision to blind people or the ability to move to paralyzed patients.

The basis of the new implant is a set of tiny coils capable of working together to produce a sufficiently strong magnetic field that can affect the electrical aspects of the activity of nerve cells in certain areas of the brain. In addition to installing an implant on top of the skull of one of the experimental animals, scientists will place the same implant inside the skull of the second animal to obtain comparative results.

The device will be used for magnetic stimulation of the visual cortex of the brain. At the same time, a computer connected to the implants will accurately simulate signals of nervous activity, similar to signals transmitted to the brain from the optic nerves. And, unlike the matrices of implantable electrodes, the efficiency of the coils should not change for the worse over time.

This project, designed for three years, is part of the global BRAIN initiative program aimed at studying all aspects of brain activity. And the approach developed by Harvard scientists, after some time required for revision and comprehensive testing, can be successfully used in relation to people. In addition, this technology can be used not only on the brain, it can be used, for example, to restore mobility of limbs and other parts of the body in case of damage to nerve tissues as a result of illness or injury.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  27.02.2017