Brain implant helps paralyzed man feel and move hand

'I can feel just about every finger.'

Nathan Copeland, who has been paralyzed since he was a teen, was able to feel sensation in his fingers after a successful trial with robotics and a brain implant.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Technology has been excelling in leaps and bounds, so when Copeland, who has been paralyzed since his car spun out of control one rainy winter night over ten years ago, signed up for trials, he was welcomed with open arms.

The University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center joined forces to create electrodes smaller than a grain of sand to implant in Copeland's sensory cortex of his brain.

The electrodes receive signals from a robotic arm and, when someone or something touches the robotic hand, Copeland is able to feel the pressure in his own.

The process of allowing paralyzed people to feel sensation is far more complex than giving them the ability to control the movement of a prosthetic limb.

During the experiments, Copeland would be blindfolded to ensure test accuracy and researchers would touch the robotic arm.

"I can feel just about every finger," Copeland told The Washington Post.

"Sometimes it feels electrical, and sometimes it's pressure, but for the most part, I can tell most of the fingers with definite precision. It feels like my fingers are getting touched or pushed."

Biomedical engineer Robert Gaunt explained: "I was awfully relieved. Nathan was pretty happy. These were places on the hand that he hasn't felt in 10 years."

No robotic limb has ever allowed a paralyzed person to experience touch before. Prosthetic research has attempted this for years but finally, it would seem real progress is emerging.

Gaunt said Nathan is currently able to "control a prosthetic arm, do a handshake, fist bump, move objects around...And in this [experiment], he can experience sensations from his own hand.

"Now we want to put those two things together so that when he reaches out to grasp an object, he can feel it....He can pick something up that's soft and not squash it or drop it."

The success of the experiment was the result of grand collaborations. The schools worked with a microelectrode package and control system developed by Blackrock Microsystems and the robotic arm was created by the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University.

The experiment, which was published Thursday in Science Translation Medicine also lists an additional 10 authors and 10 separate departments and institutions.

---

The California Network is the Next Wave in delivery of information and entertainment on pop culture, social trends, lifestyle, entertainment, news, politics and economics. We are hyper-focused on one audience, YOU, the connected generation. JOIN US AS WE REDEFINE AND REVOLUTIONIZE THE EVER-CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE.