Case Western Reserve University’s undergraduate biomedical engineering program jumped to eighth nationally in U.S. News & World Report’s 2013 college rankings, up from 13th last year. The rise coincides with the enrollment of the program’s largest first-year class in history—estimated to be more than double the size of recent classes. The first-year class across the university…
One of the first patients to receive implanted muscle stimulation technology developed at the Cleveland FES (Functional Electrical Simulation) Center will represent the United States in sailing this weekend at the 2012 Paralympic Games. Jennifer French, a native of North Royalton, is among six U.S. athletes who begin racing Sept. 1 on the south coast…
Dale thought he would never walk again after a fall from a ladder crushed his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. However, thanks to research conducted by Cleveland FES Center, Dale can not only stand but also ambulate. “I was at a loss because I was used to being busy and active and…
When potentially game-changing medical discoveries don’t fit easily into a standard business model, they can languish in a netherworld of limbo known as the Valley of Death. The term refers to the gap between a drug or medical device that holds promise for patients and the resources required to bring it to market. Recognizing their…
Six years ago, a spinal cord injury suffered in a motorcycle crash left Scott Fessler without use of his arms or legs. An innovative neuroprosthetic device, however, has helped him regain control in his hand. “It’s monumental to be able to just pick up your own fork and eat by yourself, to hold your own…
Bob Veillette will never move again. But that does not mean he will never again grab a cup of coffee. The technology that may allow him to do that, called Brain Computer Interface or BCI, produces results of an almost Biblical level: it can allow the deaf to hear, the blind to see and the…
Bob Veillette was alert. A thick ribbon of gauze coiled around his shaved head. Underneath the bandages lay the teapot-like spout that researchers hope would be the channel that would capture Veillette’s neural signals and allow him to move a cursor across a computer screen just by imagining it. As Veillette, former managing editor of…
Financial planner Scott Fessler was a highly energetic, athletic young father when, at the age of 33, he was in a near-fatal motorcycle crash. Scott suffered fractures to his cervical vertebrae, resulting in paralysis from the neck down. Immediately after the July 2006 accident, Scott underwent spinal surgery to fuse his C4-C6 vertebrae. He suffers…
This year, a monkey named Thor picked up a ball and put it into a cup while all the nerves in its hand were turned off. Rather than send signals through the spinal cord, the monkey’s brain was talking to the muscles through tiny electrodes embedded in its wrist and hand. Suddenly the lifeless limb…
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is the use of low-power electric signals on muscle. It has been part of the spinal cord paralysis world for more than 30 years; back in the early 1980s people living with paralysis began to use FES to “ambulate,” while using walkers and braces – not practical or everyday functional, but…