Neuroprosthetics, a technology that allows the brain to control external devices such as robotic limbs, is beginning to emerge as a viable option for patients disabled by amputation or neurological conditions such as stroke.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 599
Stanford researchers make critical COVID-19 discovery
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Fresh Mitochondria as a Parkinson’s Treatment
Scientists have tested a novel method of providing cells with healthy mitochondria to fight Parkinson’s disease [1].
Parkinson’s disease is the second-most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, and it affects 10 million people worldwide. The disease is age-related, as its prevalence rises rapidly in people older than 65, although some people are diagnosed much earlier. Parkinson’s disease is characterized by both motor and mental problems: tremor, rigidity (stiffness), and slowness of movement along with memory and thinking deficits.
Parkinson’s disease is caused by the loss of dopamine-producing (dopaminergic) neurons in a brain region called the substantia nigra. Therapeutic options are limited, and some of the existing ones cause nasty side effects.
Rice team demonstrates miniature brain stimulator in humans
Rice University engineers have developed the smallest implantable brain stimulator demonstrated in a human patient. Thanks to pioneering magnetoelectric power transfer technology, the pea-sized device developed in the Rice lab of Jacob Robinson in collaboration with Motif Neurotech and clinicians Dr. Sameer Sheth and Dr. Sunil Sheth can be powered wirelessly via an external transmitter and used to stimulate the brain through the dura ⎯ the protective membrane attached to the bottom of the skull.
The device, known as the Digitally programmable Over-brain Therapeutic (DOT), could revolutionize treatment for drug-resistant depression and other psychiatric or neurological disorders by providing a therapeutic alternative that offers greater patient autonomy and accessibility than current neurostimulation-based therapies and is less invasive than other brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).
“In this paper we show that our device, the size of a pea, can activate the motor cortex, which results in the patient moving their hand,” said Robinson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and of bioengineering at Rice. “In the future, we can place the implant above other parts of the brain, like the prefrontal cortex, where we expect to improve executive functioning in people with depression or other disorders.”
Large NIH Grant Supports CRISPR-based Gene Therapy Development for Brain Diseases
If we can prove the concept of this technology in the two diseases we’re studying, we can then apply it to hundreds or thousands of diseases of the brain.
Yong-Hui Jiang, MD, PhD
Yes, please. Huntington disease hopefully.
The two-phase grant will support research into a novel CRISPR-based gene-editing technology and delivery platform for targeting neurogenetic diseases.
Mum who couldn’t sleep due to ‘funny noise’ could hear symptoms of hidden cancer
A MUM who couldn’t sleep due to a “funny” whirring sound in her ear realised she had been hearing symptoms of her cancer after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Denise Wingfield, 55, was initially told dull noise in her right ear keeping her up at night was tinnitus, having been referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist.
Researchers find the “recipe” for growing new limbs
For as long as superheroes have been imagined, there’s been a superhero who can regrow limbs. Other animals (like salamanders and sharks) do it, why couldn’t we? Scientists have also tackled this question because, obviously, humans don’t naturally regrow limbs. But before we move on to regrowing limbs ourselves, we need to understand how other species do it.
In a new study, researchers mapped the proteins that kick off limb creation in mice and chicks, finding that a cocktail of just three proteins performs the initial magic.
“People in the field have known a lot of the proteins critical for limb formation, but we found that there are proteins we missed,” said study co-first author ChangHee Lee, research fellow in genetics in the lab of Cliff Tabin at Harvard Medical School.