When you prick your finger, what you feel is a consequence of activity in the brain, not the finger itself. Biomedical engineers using this concept are leading an evolution in protheses that help the estimated 2 million Americans who suffer from limb loss to “feel” their missing limbs again. This emerging field of devices for…
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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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Prior to sustaining a spinal cord injury in 1998, Jennifer French was, among other sports, an active snowboarder and skier, sailor, fly fisher, and scuba diver. Today, thanks to her neurostimulation implants, she still is. In 1999 French became the first woman to receive the Stand and Transfer implant system created by the Cleveland Functional…
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In the future, a woman with a spinal cord injury could make a full recovery; a baby with a weak heart could pump his own blood. How close are we today to the bold promise of bionics—and could this technology be used to improve normal human functions, as well as to repair us? Join Bill…
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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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The widely reported iPad-based app that tests athletes for concussions after they take a big hit in football or other sports epitomizes Jay Alberts’ work integrating engineering principles and measurement techniques into clinical practice. Known as the Cleveland Clinic Concussion Assessment System, or C3 for short, the app allows consumer devices to be used anywhere…
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Hi Everyone, I’m a professor of biomedical engineering, the founder of the Institute for Functional Restoration
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I’m Jennifer French, a Paralympic silver medalist in the sport of sailing and an advocate for neurotechnology implants, which allow me to regain use of my legs. As a result of a snowboarding accident in 1998, I became a quadriplegic. In 1999, I was the first woman to receive an implanted Stand and Transfer System…
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As a result of a snowboarding accident, Jennifer French became a quadriplegic from a C6-7 incomplete spinal cord injury in 1998. She is an active user of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) systems. In November 1999, she received the Implantable Stand & Transfer System provided by the Cleveland FES Center, MetroHealth Medical Center and Veterans Affairs;…
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Imagine enjoying a sunny day on the slopes, sliding down the side of a mountain on your snowboard. One moment you’re feeling free and in control – the next, you’ve hit a patch of ice and careened into a stand of trees. That’s the last thing entrepreneur, paralympian and quadriplegic Jennifer French remembers before waking…
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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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Igor Spetic’s hand was in a fist when it was severed by a forging hammer three years ago as he made an aluminum jet part at his job. For months afterward, he felt a phantom limb still clenched and throbbing with pain. “Some days it felt just like it did when it got injured,” he…
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Recent years have brought huge advances in prosthetics, but there is still much work to be done in replicating the intricacy of the human hand. Scientists have developed ways to let patients control prosthetic limbs with their existing nerves, but that communication is only one way — the prosthetic hasn’t been able to send anything back.…
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Artificial limb technology has seemingly languished for a long time in the land of primitive pink plastic prosthetics, but a new development could change that. Researchers have produced an artificial hand that can convey real touch sensations from the fake fingers back to the nervous system of the wearer. The system, developed at Cleveland Veterans…
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Sense of Touch, a segment on Dr. Tyler’s VA research, coordinated by the Cleveland FES Center, aired January 14, 2014 on Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet. Program Link
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One problem with most prosthetic hands, is that they don’t give the user any sense of touch. This makes it almost impossible to know how much force to use when trying to hold or manipulate something. Don’t squeeze hard enough and the object might fall out of your hand, but squeeze too hard and you…
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Doctors will attempt to reanimate a patient’s paralyzed arm with a pioneering surgery that involves capturing signals from his brain and restoring movement through a fine network of electronics linked to arm muscles. The new effort, being planned by researchers at Case Western Reserve University, will use a brain computer interface, or BCI, developed by…
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A new form of prosthetic interface has been developed raising the possibility that future amputees might not only have their mobility restored, but also their sense of touch. Although advances in prosthetic arms are creating increasingly dexterous limbs (and this is arms rather than legs – the latter are far simpler beasts, mechanically speaking) the…
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CLEVELAND, Ohio– Plucking the stem off a fat, juicy cherry may seem like a simple task, but it’s practically Herculean for an artificial hand—that’s because the prosthetic limbs,while much more dexterous and sophisticated than ever before, still can’t feel the cherry. The end result is a lot of squished fruit. But researchers at Case Western…
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Amputee Igor Spetic says the device can even produce the sensation of touching different textures, such as smooth metal, fluffy cotton balls, rough sandpaper, and soft hair. Over the past few years, artificial hands have come a long way in terms of dexterity. They can grasp, shake hands, point, and, usefully, make the “come hither” gesture.…
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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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A new nerve interface can simulate a sense of touch from 20 spots on a prosthetic hand. There have been remarkable mechanical advances in prosthetic limbs in recent years, including rewiring nerve fibers to control sophisticated mechanical arms and brain interfaces that allow for complicated thought control. But for all this progress, prosthetic limbs cannot…
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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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Like anyone else, Cameron McIntyre likes to unwind after a long week in the office or, in his case, the lab. However, his idea of relaxing doesn’t involve the calm of a golf course or ballgame; rather, he prefers a seat behind the steering wheel of a race car, taking hairpin turns at breakneck speeds.…
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