Neurochips and herpes treatment

This column keeps track of the UW's scientific community and the student and faculty research that takes place here each week. UW researcher develops implantable computers to restore brain function

UW professor Dr. Eberhard Fetz recently received a $1 million, three-year grant from the Keck Foundation to develop tiny computers that could be implanted in the brain to restore brain function lost to injury or illness. The study represents a major advancement in the field of neural engineering, an area of science that studies the interface between biological and mechanical systems.


The devices are called neurochips, and have already been successfully implanted in test animals. They take the place of lost or damaged brain cells by recording nerve cell activity in one part of the brain, processing the activity and then stimulating the appropriate cells in a different region of the brain.

“Using an implantable computer interface to implement novel interactions between brain sites opens many fundamentally new research directions,” said Fetz in an interview with Physorg.com.

Early tests on primates have been encouraging. Fetz's team has been able to use the technology to bridge neurological gaps, reactivating paralyzed muscles in monkeys. They also hope to use the neurochips to restore function and strengthen neurological connections in the brains of patients who have suffered from strokes or brain trauma.

The team plans on using the grant to develop the technology into small implantable devices that can be operated on a small amount of power and worn by the user for long period of time. The next steps will be making the device small and safe enough to be implanted into the brain, and finding a reliable power source.