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Stanford Joins BrainGate Team Developing Brain-Computer Interface to Aid People with Paralysis

Stanford University researchers are enrolling participants in a pioneering study investigating the feasibility of people with paralysis using a technology that interfaces directly with the brain to control computer cursors, robotic arms and other assistive devices.

Those who may be eligible to enroll in the trial include people with weakness of all four limbs resulting from cervical spinal cord injury, brainstem stroke, muscular dystrophy, or motor neuron disease, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

The pilot clinical trial, known as BrainGate2, is based on technology developed at Brown University and is led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brown and the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The researchers have now invited the Stanford team to establish the only trial site outside of New England.

Under development since 2002, BrainGate is a combination of hardware and software that directly senses electrical signals in the brain that control movement. The device -- a baby-aspirin-sized array of electrodes -- is implanted in the cerebral cortex (the outer layer of the brain) and records its signals; computer algorithms then translate the signals into digital instructions that may allow people with paralysis to control external devices.

“This technology is truly extraordinary, and I’m excited to begin testing it,” said Jaimie Henderson, MD, lead investigator of the Stanford branch of the trial. “One of the biggest contributions that Stanford can offer is our expertise in algorithms to decode what the brain is doing and turn it into action.”