Leave No Patient Behind
When new neurotech therapies go right, everyone is happy. Patients get access to a therapy that addresses their disorder. Vendors get revenues from device sales, upgrades, and service. Clinicians get a new base of patients and gain expertise in their field. And payers get assurance that their subscribers are being cared for in a cost-effective manner. When new neurotech therapies go wrong, it’s mostly the investors and entrepreneurs who are unhappy.
MIT Team Develops Mechanical Stimulation Technology
In recent issues of this publication, we have described a number of alternatives to electrical stimulation as potential neuromodulation modalities, including optical, magnetoelectric, ultrasonic, and iontronic technologies. Recently a team of researchers at MIT has developed a new technique that involves mechanical stimulation. Neural cells are known to respond to mechanical effects, such as pressure or vibration.
Researchers Support UC San Diego Neurotechnology Effort at MSRI Workshop
While the Mid-scale Research Infrastructure Workshop may have a long name, its impact was nothing short of impressive. Unlike most of the conferences and workshops these days, this one was designed to be 100 percent online since it was first imagined. Led University of California, San Diego, the National Science Foundation-funded event was meant to examine current state of the art in neuromodulatio…
Tufts University Raises its BCI Profile with Donation of BrainGate Technology
Tufts University, located on campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, MA, is recognized among the premier research universities in the U.S. The university recently raised its profile among neurotechnology researchers with the donation of technology and other assets from BrainGate Inc. and its former CEO Jeff Stibel, a Tufts alumnus. Stibel acquired much of the BrainGate IP, including the trademark for the term BrainGate, in 2009 from Cyberkinetics Inc., which closed its doors soon thereafter.
A Helping Hand
DARPA’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics program, launched 15 years ago, represents one of the most successful government technology programs of all time. As we opined in this space 10 years ago [NBR Jul10 p2], the program not only succeeded in developing a next-generation prosthetic arm for soldiers returning from battle with missing limbs resulting from their injuries. Together with DARPA’s HAPTIX and…
Market for Implanted Epilepsy Sensing Devices Emerges
The market for implanted neurosensing devices is driven in large part , including presurgical planning and seizure monitoring. In recent months, several research institutions and commercial firms across the globe have made progress at developing long-term implantable seizure monitors. These new devices could take the place of patients’ seizure diaries, which neurologists currently rely on to record and count epileptic seizures outside the clinic.
Cleveland NeuroDesign Innovation Fellowship to Accept First Cohort
Venerated universities around the world achieve their success by design, luck, hard work, investment, and circumstance. Those universities maintain their stellar reputations only research, impactful individuals, and substantive programs that produce outstanding results. The Stanford Biodesign program is one such example. Recently renamed The Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, the relatively young program has produced outstanding results.
The BCI Race
As was the case a year ago, when Elon Musk first unveiled Neuralink’s technology to the public [NBR Jul19 p1], his webcast update earlier this month caused a bit of a stir in the brain-computer interface community. New at this year’s talk was a description of a disc-shaped implant called the “Link,” which would sit flush with the skull, replacing the bone that the firm’s neurosurgical robot would extrude.
German Team Refines Optimal DBS Target for OCD
As is the case with all forms of DBS therapy, success with DBS for obsessive-compulsive disorder depends heavily on the accurate placement of electrodes and requires millimeter-level precision. The optimal stimulation target for OCD has not been determined definitively. But a team of researchers in Germany recently reported progress identifying the optimal target. Medtronic’s Reclaim DBS therapy received FDA approval in 2009 via the HDE pathway.
Neurotech Reports Staff Offers Advice at Neurotech Commercialization Workshop
About 70 neurotechnology industry professionals participated in the first annual Neurotech Commercialization Workshop, which took place on the Zoom platform earlier this month. The event was targeted at neurotech startups and existing neuromodulation device firms developing new product technologies. During the workshop Neurotech Reports editors James Cavuoto, Jennifer French, Jeremy Koff, and Jo Jo…