Newcastle University team helps with project

Jul 5 2010 by Nicola Juncar, The Journal

SCIENTISTS in a North East university are working on a project which could help people who have suffered brain damage through disease, stroke or injury.

They are helping to develop technology which could see paralysed patients using implanted brain transmitters to restore movement in their limbs.

The tiny microchips are designed to sense nerve messages, decode the signals and turn thought into movement.

The device would be fitted under the skin on any part of the body and wirelessly transmit information to damaged areas of the brain via electrodes.

Scientists at Newcastle University are part of the team which hopes to help the thousands of people who lose brain functions every year either through an injury, stroke or simply old age.

The device, called the Rehabilitation Nano Chip, sends out a continuous electrical current to a certain area of the brain to control symptoms.

It is thought the chip could restore functions that had been lost allowing patients to lead a normal life.

The project, which has £2m of European Union funding, involves scientists in Israel, Austria, Spain and Sweden, as well as the United Kingdom.

Some members of the British research team, which involves doctors, psychologists and biologists, are carrying out their work at Newcastle University. Professor Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, who is one of the members of the North East team, explained how the device would work in a patient with a spinal chord injury.