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BRAIN CHIPS

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ABSTRACT:
 Thousands of people around the world suffer from paralysis rendering
them dependent on others to perform even the most basic task

 But that could be changed through the latest achievements in BRAIN

COMPUTER INTERFACE, which could help them regain a portion of the lost
independence

What is BCI?

The term BCI refers to the direct interaction of the healthy brain and a
computer this doesn't require any motor outputs from the user. People with
living, healthy brains can control a computer using only their thoughts
Studies have already shown that monkeys can control a computer with
electrodes implanted in their brain.

Last year, four people, two of them, partly paralyzed wheel-chair users were
able to move a computer cursor while wearing a cap with 64 electrodes
wired to pick up the brain waves

Usually the brain is connected to a external computer system through a chip

composed of electrodes. Now, it is possible to implant this chip into the
brains motor cortex this allows scientists to record the electrical activity of
the neurons firing and use computers to convert the signals into actions by
applying signal processing algorithms. Intense efforts and research in this
field over the past decade have recently resulted in human BCI implantation,
which is the greatest news for all of us especially for those who have been
resigned to spend their lives in wheel-chairs

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THE POWER OF THOUGHT

Matthew Naggle's achievement is a historic one, and is in the same league

as conquering Mount Everest or putting a human being on the moon. He is
the first paralyzed person to have operated a prosthetic arm using just his
mind

On July 4 2001, Naggle became paralyzed from the neck downwards after
being assaulted by a person wielding a knife. He was confined to his wheel
chair and was unable to breathe without a respirator.

A former star foot-ball player at high school, Naggle was now left seemingly
powerless and immobile. Fortunately, there was a scientist and a new
device to help him overcome his disabilities. The scientist was professor
John Donoghue, who chaired the dept. of neuron science at BROWN
university in rhode island, and the device was Braingate

On June 22 and 2004 Donoghue's team implanted a small chip into Naggle's
brain. It consisted of nearly 100 hair-width electrodes implemented a
millimeter deep into the part of the motor cortex of his brain that controls
movement. The implanted sensor picked up the electric signals that
Command the limbs of the body to move. In the case of healthy man, these
signals would have been forwarded to the special cord. But as Naggle's
spinal cord was damaged, the signals were collected and sent through wires
and fiber-optic cable to hardware and software that translated them into
computer-driven movements.

The implanted device enabled Naggle to do things like check his e-mails,
turn the TV on/off, draw a crude circle on the screen, play the game pong,
and control a prosthetic arm- with just his thoughts. Of course, he needed
months of training to perform these tasks but his achievement under lines
the staggering potential of BCI technologies.

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BRAIN GATE - EMPOWERING THE HUMAN BRAIN

Braingate, a neural interface device, is a proprietary brain computer

interface that consists of an internal neural signal sensor and external
processors that convert neural signals into an output signal under the user's
control. He sensor consists of a tiny chip.(smaller than a baby aspirin) with
100 electrode Sensor-each thinner then a hair-that detect brain cell
electrical activity.

The Braingate technology platform was designed to take advantage of the

fact that many patients with motor impairment have an intact brain that can
produce movement commands. This allows the Braingate system to create
an output signal directly from the brain, bypassing the route through the
nerves to the muscles that cannot be used by people suffering from
paralysis.

The chip is implanted on the surface of the brain in the motar cortex area
that controls movement. In the pilot version of the device a cable connects
the sensor to an external signal processor in a cart that contains computers.
The computers translate brain activity and generate a communication
output using custom decoding software.

The Braingate system has been specifically designed for clinical use in
humans. Currently, five quadriplegic patients are enrolled in a pilot clinical
trail, which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA).

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JUST LIKE A CELL PHONE

---->Many people might wonder how an external device like an artificial arm
gets signal from the brain. Well, in a healthy person, the message from the
brain first moves down to the spinal cord and from there, to the muscles of
the limbs that need to be moved.

---->The brain chip can listen to the electrical impulses produced by the
neurons. Placed into the brain itself, the electrode arrays of these chips
coming to direct contact with live neurons, and so can sense single neuron
impulses.

----> Current methods of direct neuron sensing being tested in humans use
arrays of as many as 100 micro-electrodes, recording the electrical activities
of up to 96 different neurons or small group’s neurons at a time.

BIO-BRAIN CHIPS

Brain cells can be enticed into forming uniform functioning patterns using a
nano-engineering trick.

The technique could allow the development of sophisticated biological

sensors that use functioning brain cells, the researchers say. This type of

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device would identify a compound - a deadly nerve agent or poison, for

example - by measuring its effect on a functioning network of neurons.

A team led by Yael Hanein of Tel Aviv University in Israel used 100-
micrometre-wide bundles of nano tubes to coax rat neurons into forming
regular patterns on a sheet of quartz.

The neurons cannot stick to the quartz surface but do bind to the nanotube
dots, in clusters of about between 20 and 100. Once attached, these neuron
bundles are just the right distance from one another to stretch out
projections called axons and dendrites to make links with other clusters
nearby.

Electrical activity

Axons and dendrites carry electrical signals between neurons. The electrical
activity of the neural network can easily be measured because carbon nano
tubes conduct electricity and so can function as electrodes.

Existing methods for growing networks of neurons cannot produce such

neat patterns and clean links between cells. This is because neurons are
normally deposited on surfaces that do not prevent them from growing out
of ordered clusters onto projections, which makes for a messier network.
This is not a problem for Hanein's group. "There is no chance of the cells
migrating outside of there," she says.

Uniform networks

The process makes it possible to create more uniform neural networks,

Hanein says. In experiments they last longer than other artificial networks,
surviving for up to 11 weeks. This could be crucial for building biosensors
using the cells, she claims."It is clear they grow very nicely and cleanly,"
says Leslie Smith, a neural computing researcher at the University of
Stirling in the UK.

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Smith says finding ways to connect to individual neurons in similar

arrangements would be even more useful. "That's the holy grail," he told
New Scientist. "The best labs can only really put an electrode near a neuron
of interest. Finding a way to connect directly and non-invasively is much
harder."

A specialised microchip that could communicate with thousands of

individual brain cells has been developed by European scientists.The device
will help researchers examine the workings of interconnected brain cells,
and might one day enable them to develop computers that use live neurons
for memory.

SOME MORE INFORMATION ON BRAINCHIP

The computer chip is capable of receiving signals from more than 16,000
mammalian brain cells, and sending messages back to several hundred
cells. Previous neuron-computer interfaces have either connected to far
fewer individual neurons, or to groups of neurons clumped together.

A team from Italy and Germany worked with the mobile chip maker Infineon
to squeeze 16,384 transistors and hundreds of capacitors onto an
experimental microchip just 1mm squared. When surrounded by neurons the
transistors receive signals from the cells, while the capacitors send signals
to them.

Each transistor on the chip picks up the miniscule change in electric charge
prompted when a neuron fires. The change occurs due to the transfer of

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charged sodium ions, which move in and out of the cells through special
pores. Conversely, applying a charge to each capacitor alters the movement
of sodium ions, causing a neuron to react.

The researchers began experimenting with snail brain cells before moving
on to rat neurons. "It is harder using mammal neurons, because they are
smaller and more complex," Stefano Vassanellia molecular biologist with the
University of Padua in Italy told New Scientist. The researchers took a twin-
track approach to developing the system, he says: "We improved the chip,
and also the biology." The team had to tinker with the neurons themselves
to increase the strength of the connection between cells and the chip.

Pore connection

Firstly, the researchers genetically modified the neurons to add more pores.
Secondly, they added proteins to the chip that glue neurons together in the
brain, and which also attract the sodium pores. Applying this neural glue
meant that the extra sodium channels collected around the transistor and
capacitor connections. This improved its chance of translating the
movement of ions into electrical signals on the chip.

Having boosted the electrical connection between the cells and chip, the
researchers hope to be able to extend the chips influence further. "It should
be possible to make the signals from the chip cause a neuron to alter its
membrane and take up a new gene, or something that switches one off,"
says Vassanelli. "Now the chip has been developed, we plan to use it to try
and switch genes on and off."

A compound that would turn off a gene, or the DNA for a new one, could be
added to the dish containing the wired-up neurons. Using the chip, it would
be possible to control exactly which neurons took them up, and which did
not.

Having this level of control over many thousands of connected neurons

would provide new insights and make new applications possible, Vassanelli
says. "It would definitely improve our ability to experiment and understand
the workings of neurons, and this development could also provide a whole
new way to store computer memory, using live neurons," he says.

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TEETHING TROUBLES

For all its potential, Braingate is far from perfect. Reading brain signals is
not an easy task as even a simple movement, such as raising a hand,
requires electrical signals from many reasons of the brain. Implanted
electrodes pickup just a tiny fraction of the signals from neurons that fire. It
is difficult for the computer
to convert these signals-resulting in the cursor jiggling and making it
difficult to select icons on the screen with accuracy. Donoghue and his team
hope to smooth things out using software.

Other Braingate shortcomings include:

-->Size: Braingate right now has a bulky look with cables and processors.
The device has to be less bulky to make the technology mainstream.
Cyberkinetics is developing a prototype of a device that would fit behind the
ear of the patient, much like the cochlear implant, and connect via a magnet
to the computer equipment, thus eliminating the need to cross the skin. This
will lead to a wireless Braingate, giving the patient greater freedom.

-->Calibration: In its current form, it is essential to recalibrate the device

before each use by the patient. The team is working on automated
calibration to allow greater independent to the user.

-->Muscle connection: Today a direct connection from the computer to a

muscle is not possible. But researchers believe that they will be able to
achieve coordinated muscle movement. In theory, electrodes and wires

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could connect muscles to the functioning brain; thus bypassing the

damaged spinal cord.

OTHER KEY PLAYERS

Notable through his efforts are, Donoghue is not the only person
involved in this field. The following efforts can be considered as
turning point in the history of BCI:
-->In 1996, Emory University scientists Philip Kennedy and Roy Bakay
received FDA approval to implant two electrodes in the brain of the
patients named Johnny Ray, who could then use his thoughts to direct
a computer cursor. The implants were pieces of glass shaped like
cones into which gold electrical contacts where glued.
Of course, this was an important step forward. But the Brown
scientists argued that implanting two electrodes is far less effective
than implanting an array of 100. With only two electrodes, a patient is
limited to perform only simple tasks.

In 2000, Miguel Nicolelis of duke university grabbed the attention the

world by performing multi-electrode implants that allowed monkeys
to grasp with a robotic arm using brain signals the is used to remotely
control another robot arm 950kms away in a different lab. Human
trails are set to begin in the near future.

In 2004, Jonathan Wolpaw and Dennis Mcfarland of the New York

state department of health created an EEG skullcap that allows the
patients to move the cursor up and down and from side to side
thought the use of thought. The cap's biggest advantage was that it

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eliminated the need for an invasive surgical procedure and the risks
associated with it. The problem with this device is its low signal-to-
noise ratio, which limits its use to controlling a cursor. It is difficult to
perform more complex tasks like controlled muscle movement.

In 2004, Andrew Schwartz, a scientist in the University of Pittsburgh,

inserted a multi-electrode implanted into a monkey's brain. This
enabled the monkey to use a robotic arm to feed itself. The catch is
that this procedure requires a brain surgery for implant and has not
yet been tested on a human subject. Of all these,
Donoghue's group is the only one to have formed a company that
aims to bring a functional product to the market.

NEURAL-INTERFACES: THE FUTURE BECKON

Brain chip's technology has come a long way in the last decade. The
primary goal of this technology and devices like Braingate is to help
those are who are paralyzed to perform routine activities that are
part of normal human existence. It is also a platform for the
development of a wide range of other assisting devices.
Researchers claim that the brain chip can be used to replace the
memory center in patients affected by strokes, epilepsy disease.
Normal humans may also be able to utilize brain chip technology to
enhance their relationship with the digital world.
The recent emergence of quantum computing research could
potentially revolutionize the speed, accuracy and efficiency of
computer technology. This advancement could also help transmit the
electric signals of the brain more accurately and boost brain chip
technology. By enhancing the computer components of 'thought in
action', information from electrical signals could be targeted more
precisely and accurately, resulting in more complete mappings of
brain activity predicts a student group at Brown University dedicated
for the BCI. However, several critical issues would have to be resolved
for this to become a reality.

CONCLUSION:

It's finally seemed that brain chip technology would help the
paralyzed persons in all the ways but it need more research in this
field to construct total brain chips and use of technology efficiently,
but you need to reconstruct everything that’s going in our head.

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REFERENCES

www.cyberkineticsnic.com
www.newscientist.com
www.bbcnews.com
www.wikipedia.com

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