‘Digital bridge’ between brain and spine enables paralysed man to walk again

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,…

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