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…
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Case Western Reserve University has appointed Robert F. Kirsch chairman of the biomedical engineering department and Kenneth A. Loparo chairman of the electrical engineering and computer science department. Kirsch and Loparo are prolific researchers, proven leaders among their peers and consistently highly regarded in annual student reviews. “They are doers who will take action and…
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The Cleveland FES Center was established in 1991 as a consortium between the Cleveland VA Medical Center (CVAMC), the private educational institution of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), and the public hospital system of MetroHealth Medical Center (MHMC). As part of this consortium, Dr. Hunter Peckham – biomedical engineering professor at Case Western Reserve University…
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Musa Audu, research associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, received the Case Western Reserve University Biomedical Engineering Society’s Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award for 2012-2013. Audu was cited for his unique ability to motivate students, provide assistance both inside and outside of class and personally impact students’ careers. He has more than 35 years…
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…
DetailsProsthetic arms are getting ever more sophisticated. Now they just need a sense of touch. The Modular Prosthetic Limb will help patients to feel and manipulate objects just as they would with a native hand. Sitting motionless in her wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down by a stroke, Cathy Hutchinson seems to take no notice…
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…
DetailsThe timing could not have been more eerie. It was the night of Friday the 13th in 1998, under the light of the full moon, when then 26-year-old Jennifer French went on a midnight snowboarding run with some friends on a New England mountain. Everyone made it to the bottom of the slope – except…
DetailsCase 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…
DetailsOne 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…
DetailsDale 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…
DetailsWhen 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…
DetailsSix 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…
DetailsBob 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…
DetailsBob 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…
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 spinal surgery to fuse his C4-C6 vertebrae. He suffers…
DetailsThis 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…
DetailsFunctional 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…
DetailsBuckeye Wellness Center Crucial Fitness Resource for People with Spinal Cord Injuries VALLEY VIEW, Ohio — Exercise bikes, an unweighted treadmill, a seated stepper and other workout machines fill the newly carpeted room at Buckeye Wellness Center in Valley View. But this is far from a typical fitness center. Owner Christopher Wynn designed the gym…
DetailsScott Fessler didn’t let a 2006 motorcycle accident and C5 injury stop him from getting back to his career as a financial planner, but he needed a little extra help getting his right hand back to work. He finally got that help last June when he received FES implants at the Cleveland FES Center. The…
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