News

Chronic Pain Market Looks to Dorsal Root Therapies Researchers and commercial firms involved with treating chronic pain are investigating new forms of neuromodulation to treat the condition. Several teams and a startup neurotechnology vendors are looking at the dorsal root ganglion of the spinal cord as an alternative site for neuro­stimulation, which could expand treatment options for patients with chronic pain who have no other alternative and for whom spinal cord stimulation is not effective.

Turning Payers Into Payees Reimbursement of neurotechnology devices has always been a significant issue for executives in our industry. But the matter has taken on added urgency and concern as the U.S. economy continues to struggle, as federal budgets in general and CMS funding in particular continue to be stretched thin, and as a new healthcare reform law takes effect. Many of theses issues were d…

Nanowires Increase Fidelity of Neural Interfaces , senior technical editor Nanotechnology is permeating fields as diverse as fabric coatings and telecommunications, and neurotechnology is no different. Last year we reported on the use of carbon nanotubes as a substrate for cultured neurons [NBR Mar09 p1]. Remarkably, neurons cultured on the carbon nanotube substrates exhibited greater excitability as a result of an electrical short circuit along the neurons produced .

New Research Priorities Spur Alzheimer’s Market The neurotechnology market for diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease and related cognitive disorders received a boost recently with the publication of new research and new initiatives to identify biomarkers for the disease. The National Institute on Aging, in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Association, earlier this month released reports from three workgroups convened to update diagnostic criteria for the first time since 1984.

Industry Pioneers to Highlight Tenth Annual Neurotech Leaders Forum Several neurotechnology industry pioneers will be part of the program at the 2010 Neurotech Leaders Forum , to be held in San Francisco, CA September 23-24. Reese Terry, cofounder of Cyberonics Inc. and CEO of neurotech startup Trifectas Medical, will keynote the tenth annual event on September 24. Elliot Krames, former president o…

Neurotech Reports Announces Dates for 2009 Leaders Forum Neurotech Reports, the publisher of this newsletter, announced that the ninth annual Neurotech Leaders Forum will be held in Newport Beach, CA October 26-27, 2009. For the first time, this event will be held in conjunction with the NeuroInvestment Conference, which is targeted at representatives of the neuropharmaceutical industry. NI Research, publisher of the newsletter NeuroInvestment, will collaborate with Neurotech Reports on the event.

Neural Engineers Convene in Long Beach for Neural Inferfaces Conference Nearly 500 neural engineers, clinicians, and researchers attended the 2010 Neural Interfaces Conference in Long Beach, CA in June 2010. The event is the offshoot of the NIH’s Neural Prosthesis Workshop and also incorporates the DBS Consortium meeting. Terry Hambrecht, the first head of the NIH Neural Prosthesis Program, led the conference off with a keynote presentation on the history of neural prostheses.

The Future and the Past Come Together The tenth annual Neurotech Leaders Forum, to be held in San Francisco September 23-24, 2010, will give attendees an opportunity to look back on what has happened in the neurotechnology industry over the last decade. It will also offer a glimpse at the future of our industry, as we discuss new technologies, new startups, and new relationships among today’s vendors.

ial director July 2010 issue BrainGate, an implanted brain-computer interface that enables direct control of computer or other devices , generated a huge wave of publicity worldwide for Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc. of Foxborough, MA, the company that developed the system. Taking advantage of the good press, Cyberkinetics went public in 2004 and its stock was listed on the OTC Bulletin Board.

Turning Weapons into Arms There has not been an overwhelming amount of good news to emerge from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last several years. But one very significant and very positive development has been the emergence of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The program, administered at Johns Hopkins University with collaborati…