While the new studies provide an initial proof of principle that human application of brain-machine interfaces is possible, the researchers emphasize that many years of development and clinical testing will be required before such neuroprosthetic devices are available.
The research team, led by neurosurgeon and professor of neurobiology Dennis Turner, M.D., and neurobiologist Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., will publish their results in the July 2004 issue of the journal Neurosurgery. Principal members of the research team also include Parag Patil, M.D., a resident in neurosurgery and lead author of the study, and Jose Carmena, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow in neurobiology. The research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Institutes of Health.
The research builds on earlier studies in the Nicolelis laboratory, in which monkeys learned to control a robot arm using only their brain signals.
In the initial human studies, Patil and colleagues recorded electrical signals from arrays of 32 microelectrodes, during surgeries performed to relieve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and tremor disorders. These surgical procedures routinely involve implanting electrodes into the brain and then stimulating the brain with small electrical currents to relieve the patient's symptoms. The patients are awake during surgery, and the neurosurgeons typically record brain signals to ensure that permanent electrodes are placed into the optimal location in the brain.
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Contact: Dennis Meredith
dennis.meredith@duke.edu
919-681-8054
Duke University Medical Center
23-Mar-2004