Neurosurgeons at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and the CU Anschutz School of Medicine performed Colorado’s first implanted brain–computer interface (BCI) surgery, placing an implant that will record and stimulate the patient’s brain to restore motor and sensory function.
The 41‑year‑old patient was paralyzed from the neck down after an accident about 10 years ago. The implanted device will read electrical activity in higher‑level brain areas, learn how that activity maps to the patient’s intended movements, and control external devices such as a robotic arm and computer interfaces.
The team plans to stimulate sensory cortex areas to restore sensation and allow the patient to feel his hand again for the first time since his injury. The device will remain implanted for years so researchers can collect long‑term data on how brain signals support learning, planning and decision‑making.
Physicians said the implant site is notable. “While most BCI procedures focus only on purely motor regions, implanting this device in higher‑level brain areas will offer new insights into how the human brain works during everyday thinking and movement,” said Daniel Kramer, MD, assistant professor of neuroscience and a neurosurgeon at UCHealth.
Luke Bashford, PhD, assistant adjunct professor of neuroscience and neurotechnology at CU Anschutz, said extended implantation will let the team study how movement and cognition interact over time and could inform treatments for cognitive control disorders such as mood disorders or dementia.
The project is supported with equipment and funding from Blackrock Neurotech and is part of a consortium led by Richard Andersen, PhD, at Caltech, with Charles Liu, MD, PhD, at USC. The authors thanked other collaborators including David Bjånes, PhD, at Caltech.
Researchers seeking more information or patient referrals can contact the study team at luke.bashford@cuanschutz.edu.
Photo credit: news.cuanschutz.edu
Tags: brain–computer interface, neural implant, spinal cord injury, sensory restoration
Topics: Brain–computer interfaces, Neuroprosthetics & neural implants, Neuroscience & neuroplasticity