When Cathy Hutchinson drank a cinnamon latte from a thermos in 2012, she made history. When she went on to type words, send emails and navigate a wheelchair, it sent waves of excitement through the neuroscience research community. Read more…
We have the technology to dramatically increase the independence of people with spinal-cord injuries. The problem is bringing it to market and keeping it there. One night in 1982, John Mumford was working on an avalanche patrol on an icy Colorado mountain pass when the van carrying him and two other men slid off the…
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On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, God reaches out to touch Adam. The eye locks on the small gap between their index fingers, a slice of space dividing the ethereal from man. A similar gap challenges researchers who work with paralyzed or handicapped patients — how to synch the human brain with a machine…
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Technology reconnects amputees to the world of sensation A team of scientists led by Dustin Tyler from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio is reporting a breakthrough that might soon enhance the lives of amputees around the world. They have developed a system of electrodes and algorithms that has successfully enabled people to ‘feel’ through…
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Igor Spetic was blindfolded in the test as he moved his prosthetic hand across a table as he attempted to pick up cubes about the size of walnuts. But he could not feel the cubes because he was working with the artificial hand to which he had been fitted. However, when engineers turned on a…
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Prosthetic limbs have long been clunky, acting more as appendages than extensions. But modern technology is now helping amputees rediscover their sense of touch. Miles O’Brien, who lost his own arm in an accident last year, takes a look at new advances in the field. Watch the video on PBS.org
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Case Western Reserve University researchers who helped restore a sense of touch to amputees in a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs lab in Cleveland are finalizing contract negotiations for a $4.4 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to speed development of a mobile system amputees can use anywhere. Read the full…
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Veterans with prosthetic hands could someday regain their sense of touch thanks to a new DARPA initiative. It’s called the Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces (HAPTIX) program, and the goal is to let amputees “feel” objects with technology that would send signals back and forth between the brain and artificial hand. Read the full article
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Cleveland, OH – October 29, 2014 State of the FES Center 2014 presented by Robert F. Kirsch, PhD, Executive Director Click here to download the full presentation.
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Cathy Hutchinson demonstrates thought-relaying technology that allows her to take a sip of coffee
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Chronic pain, hearing loss, sleep apnea, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, paralysis from stroke or spinal cord injury.
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MIT Technology Review: Hunter Peckham, the Donnell Institute Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
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A type of artificial platelet being developed to help natural blood platelets form clots faster offers promise for saving the lives of soldiers, as well as victims of car crashes and other severe trauma. In preclinical tests led by a Case Western Reserve University researcher, the artificial platelets, called “hemostatic nanoparticles,” when injected after blast…
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The intersection of engineering and medicine is a sweet spot called neuromodulation, which involves electronic implants that can restore movement and body functions. In the center of this research—and particularly in the field of functional electrical stimulation (FES)—is Hunter Peckham, Ph.D., an FES pioneer who recognized a need for engineering in medicine, and developing devices…
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Dustin Tyler, associate professor of biomedical engineering, is a co-lead investigator on a team that received a $199,913 grant from the Rehabilitation Research and Development (RRD) Service Small Projects in Rehabilitation Research (SPiRE) program to develop advanced in-line connectors. In the study, “In-Line 32-Channel Connector for High-Density Implantable Medical Device,” Tyler and Douglas Shire attempt…
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Two Case Western Reserve University scientists who are leaders in innovation and turning discoveries into improvements in health, new materials and more have been named Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Robert H. Miller, professor of neurosciences and the university’s vice president for research, and P. Hunter Peckham, the Donnell Institute Professor of…
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Megan Moynahan, Executive Director, Institute for Functional Restoration, presents at TEDxBrussels “Engineering the Human Nervous System”. View the Presentation
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Federal regulators have given Neuros Medical Inc. permission to test its technology on 130 patients suffering from chronic amputation pain. The Willoughby company has received an Investigational Device Exemption from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that will allow it to implant those patients with its Altius System, which is designed to block nerves that…
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Five Cleveland biomedical research and health care institutions have received a $1 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), one of the National Institutes of Health, to collaborate on developing the Cleveland Stroke Clinical Trials Regional Coordinating Center. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine will administer the five-year grant…
DetailsAfter decades of research and development in neurostimulation technology, Ohio is riding a national commercialization wave in neurodevices. Neurostimulation, also referred to as electrostimulation, uses electricity as an alternative to drug therapy. Treatment applications include relief of chronic pain, paralysis and depression. There are approximately 725 persons currently employed in Ohio manufacturing industries related to…
DetailsMost translators are language specialists. They change ancient Greek into English, or English into Mandarin, or speech into American Sign Language. Emily Hromi and Erika Woodrum are translators, too, but of a very different kind: They are artists who change complex and vitally important medical information into imagery that the average person can easily understand.…
DetailsThe Ohio Third Frontier Commission has awarded $6 million to two teams led by Case Western Reserve University that are developing new medical technology, as well as more than $1 million in other awards meant to support high-tech projects and internships in Northeast Ohio. The first CWRU team received $3 million, which it will use…
DetailsCWRU Study of BrainGate Could Help Paralyzed Patients Regain Movement A group of engineers at Case Western Reserve University, whose goal is to help people with paralysis regain the use of their limbs, is launching a clinical trial to study a system that will measure how these people’s brains communicate movement. The system,…
DetailsFinancial 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 spinalsurgery to fuse his C4-C6 vertebrae. He suffers chronic…
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