Mind monitor

A new brain implant could stop tremors in people suffering from Parkinson's disease and provide doctors with 24-hour remote monitoring of their condition.

The biomedical device was recently unveiled by IMEC, a Belgium-based nanotechnology research centre, at the annual Design, Automation and Test in Europe conference in Nice, France this April.

The implant is a prototype multi-electrode stimulation and recording probe for deep-brain stimulation. As well as Parkinson's, it could be used to treat other conditions such as depression when drug treatments have failed.

In use, the probes would be implanted in the area of the brain where problems such as unwanted physical movements originate.

Wolfgang Eberle, project manager at IMEC's bioelectronics research group, said that the probe's electrodes would target the network of neurons communicating incorrectly.

'The electrodes will apply a small electrical current to try and reset the [brain's] circuitry,' he said. 'It will then bring it back to a normal level again.'