Brain Gate

History

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

Working

          The sensor of the size of a contact lens is implanted in brain’s percental gyrus which control hand and arm movements. A tiny wire connects the chip to a small pedestal secured in the scull. A cable connects the pedestal to a computer. The brain's 100bn neurons fire between 20 and 200 times a second .The sensor implanted in the brain senses these electrical signals and passes to the pedestal through the wire. The pedestal passes this signals to the computer through the cable.

Braingate Neural Interface System

          The BrainGate Neural Interface System is currently the subject of a pilot clinical trial being conducted under an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA. The system is designed to restore functionality for a limited, immobile group of severely motor-impaired individuals. 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 (e.g., communication) to include the control of objects in the environment such as a telephone, a television and lights.

About

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. The activities are 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.

Brain-Computer Interface

          A 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. 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 Neural Interfaces

          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 paralyzed 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.

Conclusion

The invention of Braingate is such a revolution in medical field.The remarkable breakthrough offers hope that people who are paralysed will one day be able to independently operate artificial limbs, computers or wheelchairs.