"A computer is a gateway to everything else these patients would like to
do."


A chip off the old brain



WAY TO HELP PARALYZED PATIENTS
U.S. okays implanting of microchips in human brains for trials


ASSOCIATED PRESS



BOSTON - For years, futurists have dreamed of machines that can read
minds, then act on instructions as they are thought.
   Now, human trials are set to begin on a brain-computer interface
involving implants.
   Cyberkinetics Inc. of Foxboro, Mass., has received U.S. Food and Drug
Administration approval to begin a clinical trial in which
foursquare-millimetre chips will be placed beneath the skulls of
paralyzed patients.
   If successful, the chips could allow patients to command a computer
to act - merely by thinking about the instructions they wish to send.
   It's a small, early step in a mission to improve the quality of life
for victims of strokes and debilitating diseases like cerebral palsy or
Lou Gehrig's. Many victims of such ailments can now survive for long
periods thanks to life support but their quality of life is poor.
   "A computer is a gateway to everything else these patients would like
to do, including motivating your own muscles through electrical
stimulation," said Cyberkinetics chief executive Tim Surgenor. "This is
a step in the process."
   The company is far from the only research group active in the field.
An Atlanta company, Neural Signals, has conducted six similar implants
as part of a clinical trial and hopes to conduct more. But for now, its
device contains relatively simple electrodes and experts said
Cyberkinetics will be the first to engage in a long-term, human trial
with a more sophisticated device placed inside a patient's brain. It
hopes to bring a product to market in three to five years.
   A number of research groups have focused on brain-computer links in
recent years. In 1998, Neural Signals researchers said a brain implant
let a paralyzed stroke victim move a cursor to point out phrases like
"See you later. Nice talking with you" on a computer screen.
   The next year, other scientists said electrodes on the scalp of two
Lou Gehrig's disease patients let them spell messages on a computer
screen.
   Cyberkinetics founder Dr. John Donoghue, a Brown University
neuroscientist, attracted attention with research on monkeys that was
published in 2002 in the journal Nature.
   Three rhesus monkeys were given implants, which were first used to
record signals from their motor cortex - an area of the brain that
controls movement - as they manipulated a joystick with their hands.
Those signals were then used to develop a program that enabled one of
the monkeys to continue moving a computer cursor with its brain.
   The idea is not to stimulate the mind but rather to map neural
activity so as to discern when the brain is signalling a desire to make
a particular physical movement.
   "We're going to say to a paralyzed patient: 'Imagine moving your hand
six inches to the right,' " Surgenor said.
   Then, he said, researchers will try to identify the brain activity
associated with that desire. Someday, that capacity could feed into
related devices, such as a robotic arm, that help patients act on that
desire.