Can a Human with a Spinal Cord Injury Walk and Run? Discovering Clues to Solving Science Challenges with Neuromorphic Technology

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 An international research team led by Prof. Tae-Woo Lee (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea) and Prof. Zhenan Bao (Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, US) has succeeded in recovering muscle movements in a model of paralyzed mice through organic artificial nerves. The result was published in the world-renowned international journal ‘Nature Biomedical Engineering’ on 08/16.

The nerves, which are essential for life activities as well as have a significant impact on quality of life, are easily damaged by various causes such as physical injury, genetic causes, secondary complications, and aging. In addition, as once nerves are damaged it is difficult to be reconstructed, some or all their bodily functions are permanently lost due to poor bio-signaling. The painful story of a celebrity’s spinal cord injury is sometimes told in the media. The medical challenge of nerve damage, which has been experienced with the birth of mankind, remained a scientific challenge despite the development of drastic medicine and biology, and there seems to be no big clue in the future. Various attempts have been made to treat damaged nerves, including surgical methods and medication, but damaged or degenerated nerve functions remain almost impossible to recover.

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Among the various methods for rehabilitation in patients with neurological damage, Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES), which is currently actively used in clinical practice, uses computer-controlled signals. Through this, electrical stimulation is applied to muscles that are no longer arbitrarily controllable in patients with neuropathy to induce muscle contraction, resulting in functionally useful movements in the biological body even though they are confined in a specific space. However, those conventional approach has limitations that patients are not suitable for long-term use in their daily lives because they involve complex digital circuits and computers for signal processing to stimulate muscles, consuming a lot of energy and poor biocompatibility in the process.

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