Brain Implant To Treat Neurological Diseases’ Symptoms

Now, there is new hope for patients with neurological diseases such as PD (Parkinson’s disease) and epilepsy. A wireless brain implant was explicitly developed to treat the symptoms of these conditions. It will be placed on the brain’s surface and keep track of patients’ brain activities. When it detects an abnormal signal, it will interfere to restore the balance.

This device is a creation of the UC Berkeley and is called WAND (short for Wireless Artifact-Free Neuromodulation Device). This is not the first implant that can produce electrical stimulation to target these conditions, but it has fixed some of the earlier prototypes’ issues. According to an article published in Nature Biomedical Engineering journal, this implant took us closer to cure some of the most common neurological diseases in the world.

This device works with a closed-loop system, which solves some of the problems other implants face. However, there has been no human testing so far. The closest the scientists have reached is to carry out experiments on primates.

This device is the first to monitor the brain’s activities and at the same time, apply targeted shocks if some things go wrong. This ability makes WAND’s treatment more specialized and effective, while earlier models could only do one of the two tasks.

Rikky Muller, a computer scientist and electrical engineer at UC Berkeley said, "We want to enable the device to figure out what is the best way to stimulate for a given patient to give the best outcomes. And you can only do that by listening and recording the neural signatures.”

The team’s future plan is to apply AI to the implant so that the device can read and comprehend the signals from the brain better.

However, before they can realize that ambition, the team must conquer another challenge, which is to test the device on a human. This step is actually more complicated than it may seem. To run the test, they must find volunteers who have already had Parkinson’s disease or epilepsy and are willing to give it a try.

This device does sound promising, but we might have to wait to know for sure.