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INNOVATION FOR INDEPENDENCE
ISSUE 77 February/March 11 £6.95
Team building mind-controlled prosthetic devices By Dominic Musgrave AMERICAN researchers are helping the Pentagon build reliable mind-controlled prosthetic devices for military and civilian amputees. Badrinat Roysam, chair of the University of Houston’s department of electrical and computer engineering, and Hugh and Lillie Cranz Cullen University professor, is leading a multi-institution team effort to identify the combination of factors that cause neural implants to fail. He said prosthetic limbs that can be maneuvered by neural implants have shown promise in the laboratory, but there are challenges to making them work in the real world. “The tissue surrounding the device undergoes complex changes that in the end isolate it electrically,” Badrinat added. “At this point the implant stops functioning. “We have pre-eminent leaders in implant design, 3D multispectral imaging, quantitative histology, and pattern recognition on our team. Ideally, the team will be able to make great strides in the understanding of neural implant failure, which can fail within six to eight weeks. “DARPA has a vision of a future where a soldier who has lost a limb will regain full use of that limb again through advanced technology.” Badrinat and his group have received a three-
year, $5.4m grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the military's high-tech research agency. Researchers from Seattle Children's Research Institute, the University of Michigan, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and two companies also are involved in the project. The grant is part of DARPA's Histology for Interface Stability Over Time program, which is the next phase of its Revolutionizing Prosthetics project that began in 2000. The grant money is allocated in two phases, with $3.2m being awarded immediately and the remaining $2.2m based on performance. The work will begin in Michigan, where a team led by professor Daryl Kipke will build specialised neural implants for use in laboratory testing. Researchers at the Seattle institute, under the direction of William Shain, will take threedimensional images of how different brain cells are reacting to an implant. The images will be transmitted to Houston, where Badrinat’s team will run them through a sophisticated and powerful software platform called FARSIGHT, which will analyse the histology, or cellular make up, of the images. Developed by a collaborative team led by Badrinat, FARSIGHT will translate the images into data that quantifies the response of each individual brain cell and cell type to the implant.
Television and radio presenter Toby Anstis will host the first UK Wheelchair Challenge this summer. The event will form part of the annual South West Disability Show at the Westpoint, Exeter, which takes place on June 9 and 10. A 1km race is open to anybody in a wheelchair along with their carers and parents, while the 3km event will be held for more serious amateur sportsmen and women over a more challenging course. The Challenge, sponsored by GM Coachwork, will also benefit disabled charities.