Swiss neuroscientists have helped a paralysed man walk again thanks to a « digital bridge » between brain and spinal cord.Swiss neuroscientists have helped a paralysed man walk again thanks to a « digital bridge » between brain and spinal cord.
Over a decade ago, a cycling accident left Gert-Jan Oskam paralysed after causing him a spinal cord injury. Now, he’s able to stand and walk again thanks to an innovative brain-spine interface (BSI) developed by a team of Swiss neuroscientists.
To walk, the brain must send a command to the region of the spinal cord that’s responsible for movement control. But a spinal cord injury interrupts this communication.
“Our idea was to reestablish this communication with a “digital bridge”, an electric communication between the brain and the region of the spinal cord that is still intact,” said Professor Grégoire Courtine, one of the project’s lead neuroscientists.
