Brain-machine interface allows paralysed person to walk

Neuroscientists and neurosurgeons from EPFL, CHUV, and UNIL in Switzerland, and CEA, CHUGA and UGA in France published their achievements in Nature, explaining how they were able to restore communication between the brain and spinal cord with a wireless ‘digital bridge’.

The study details how Gert-Jan, a 40-year-old man suffering from a spinal cord injury at the level of the cervical vertebrae following a bicycle accident which left him a paraplegic, was able to regain natural control of the movement of his legs through the new technology.

He was able to stand, walk and climb stairs, adding that the breakthrough allowed for rediscovery of simple pleasures that represent important change in his life.

To establish the digital bridge, two types of electronic implants were necessary. Neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch, professor at CHUV, UNIL and EPFL said that WIMAGINE devices, developed by French lab CEA, were implanted above the region of the brain responsible for leg movements.