BrainGate revolutionary medical technology

After 10 years of study and research, Cyberkinetics, a biotech company in Foxboro, Massachusetts, developed BrainGate in 2003. Dr. John Donoghue, director of the brain science program at Brown University, Rhode Island, and chief scientific officer of Cyberkinetics, the company behind brain implants, lead the team to research and develop this brain implant system.

The sensor having a contact lens’ size that is implanted in motor cortex of brain; it controls the movements of hand and arm. A small wire connects the neuro chip to a pedestal that is attached to the patient’s skull.

A cable connects the base of the skull to a computer. The brain’s 100 bn neurons pass between 20 and 200 times / second. The electrical signals are sensed by the implanted sensor in the brain and passes to the computer through the cable.

The BrainGate Neural Interface System is currently undergoing an experimental clinical trial being conducted under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) supervision. The system is designed to restore functionality to a limited and immobile group of individuals with severe mobility impairments.

BrainGate Neural Interface System:

People using the BrainGate system are expected to use a PC as a gateway to a range of self-directed activities. It is expected that people using the BrainGate system will employ a personal computer as the gateway to a range of self-directed activities. These activities may extend beyond typical computer functions (for example; communication) to include the control of objects in the environment such as a telephone, a television, and lights.

BrainGate is a brain implant system developed by the bio-tech company Cyberkinetics in 2003 in conjunction with the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University. The device was designed to help those who have lost control of their limbs, or other bodily functions, such as patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or spinal cord injury.

The computer chip, which is implanted into the brain, monitors brain activity in the patient and converts the intention of the user into computer commands. Cyberkinetics describes that such applications may include novel communications interfaces for motor impaired patients, as well as the monitoring-and treatment of certain diseases which manifest themselves in patterns of brain activity, such as epilepsy and depression.

Currently the chip uses 100 hair-thin electrodes that sense the electro-magnetic signature of neurons firing in specific areas of the brain, for example, the area that controls arm movement.

Brain-Computer Interface:

The brain-computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain-machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a human or animal brain (or brain cell culture) and an external device.

The activity is translated into electrically charged signals and are then sent and decoded using a program, which can move either a robotic arm or a computer cursor.

In one-way BCIs, computers either accept commands from the brain or send signals to it (for example, to restore vision) but not both. Two-way BCIs would allow brains and external devices to exchange information in both directions but have yet to be successfully implanted in animals or humans.

In this definition, the word brain means the brain or nervous system of an organic life form rather than the mind. Computer means any processing or computational device, from simple circuits to silicon chips (including hypothetical future technologies such as quantum computing).

Future of the BCI:

Cyberkinetics has a vision, CEO Tim Surgenor explained to Gizmag, but it is not promising “miracle cures”, or that quadriplegic people will be able to walk again - yet.

Their primary goal is to help restore many activities of daily living that are impossible for paralysed people and to provide a platform for the development of a wide range of other assistive devices.

Cyberkinetics hopes to refine the BrainGate in the next two years to develop a wireless device that is completely implantable and doesn’t have a plug, making it safer and less visible. Surgenor also sees a time not too far off where normal humans are interfacing with BrainGate technology to enhance their relationship with the digital world - if they’re willing to be implanted.

The invention of BrainGate is such a revolution in medical field. This great invention offers great hope that people who are paralyzed will one day be able to operate artificial limbs, computers or wheel chair independently.