Can a spinal cord a spinal cord stimulator be the answer to many people’s dreams? A recent study by Michael Nolan explores a new and exciting treatment to help cure Parkinson’s Disease.

Marc Gauthier was diagnosed at the young age of 36 years old with Parkinson’s Disease. This made life difficult for him and walking became a massive task. he thought he would live the rest of the his life with the fear of losing balance and falling uncontrollably. However, life became easier for him when an experimental medical procedure gave him mobility back allowing him to live life to the fullest again!

Recently, I came across a news story about new bionic knuckles being developed specifically for children.

I read about how these bionic knuckles are being developed for children who have only part of their hand missing as no artificial hand could fit properly leaving them unable to play, read and drink or eat without assistance. But with the development of the bionic knuckles the battery powered thumb and fingers allow the child to form a proper grip allowing them to carry out basic tasks independently which I think is a crucial part of growing up, feeling free to do things on your own.

From the article I understood that the bionic knuckles were built as an aluminium frame with tiny motors and gears built into the thumb and index finger. The lightweight metal chosen means the frame is lighter than a real hand so the child can do activities that involve finer finger movements so they can play video games or paint or read. I think they will really improve the quality of life for all the children who receive them.

Implanting chips that can read our brain and control our movements sounds right for a science fiction film, but could technology like Neuralink help paralysed patients to walk and talk again?

Controversial businessman and CEO Elon Musk’s adventure into the world of bio-engineering seems to me like a frightful jump towards losing autonomy, and providing an additional way for large corporations to gain control of us – this time from inside our heads. However, if done correctly, these small chips could be the important missing piece in giving people suffering from paralysis the chance to live a normal life.

Earlier this year, Neuralink implanted its first device into a human. Via ‘X’, formerly known as twitter, Musk let the public know the patient was “recovering well”, and initial results seem “promising”. The clinical trial for Neuralink, PRIME – Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface – has been recruiting people with quadriplegia caused by a spinal cord injury or ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), in hopes of restoring movement.

“The device is designed to interpret a person’s neural activity, so they can operate a computer or smartphone by simply intending to move – no wires or physical movement are required”

– Neuralink

According to Neuralink, the implant consists of “1024 electrodes distributed across 64 threads”, and can be wirelessly charged through the skin. The implant would enable users to communicate directly with a mobile phone or computer, in goal of providing more indepedence to people living with disabilities.

Neuralink has not been without controversy, however, and animal cruelty accusations began in 2022 that up to 12 monkeys had been euthanised during the research and development process. Musk objected to these accusations, assuring “no monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant”, and that terminal animals were used in research to minimise risk.

Interfacing neurology with computers is not a new concept, for decades scientists have been decoding the electrical activity of the brain and looking for ways to manipulate this activity, mostly through the view of improving the lives of those with loss of function and senses of the body. On the other hand, implants have also been seen as a potential way to enhance the healthy and provide ‘superpowers’, for example by utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) to increase the aptitude and intellect of healthy participants. This is where many argue we should draw the line, and an increased reliance on technology could lead to a diminished attention span, derealisation and a host of other negative consequences yet to be discovered yet. And what is to say that, with profits the leading force of almost all companies, advertisements will not begin playing inside our own head? Would there be any escape back to the natural world?

i recently read an article about the development of stem cells that resemble, roughly, a 2 week old human embryo at the university of Cambridge.

i found this really interesting as the article discusses how many pregnancies are lost within this initial 2 week period for unknown reasons. the engineering of these stem cells into embryo-like cells is important as it now allows for research into why so many embryos fail at this stage.

this is also really useful for investigating the role of developmental genes as they can be genetically modified, something which is difficult to do with the natural embryo. research involving natural embryos is currently illegal after 14 days of development, since the embryo cannot form a twin within this first stage – which i didn’t know so that’s also pretty interesting to me.

the embryos were engineered by over-expressing a transcription factor with embryonic stem cells, which allowed the cells to self-organise into a 3D structure which resembles the post-implantation embryo containing extra-embryonic tissue and a pluripotent epiblast-like cluster.

an example of research already conducted using these cells was the inhibitory role for SOX17 in the specification of anterior hypoblast-like cells.

Bioprinting technology involves bioink and biomaterials that are mixed with cells, used as the printing material for 3D printing. This involves techniques like cell culturing, growth factors, and using the bioink and biomaterials to fabricate biomedical parts to imitate tissue characteristics (involving tissue engineering) and form functional biofilms. Unlike normal 3D printers, bioprinters utilise bioinks are designed to print biological materials specifically.

Inkjet 3D bioprinting is a type of bioprinting technology. Some benefits of this technology is its high speed and availability.

The first 3D printed organ, bladder, was transplanted into a human in 1999.

My favourite breed of sheep are Herdwick sheep. They are found in the Lake District and have distinctive white faces and grey wool. They have evolved over many centuries with the assistance of selective breeding to be hardy to survive out on the fells all year round. Modern farming uses Herdwick sheep for meat.

Domestication of sheep has been traced back about 10,000 years with Herdwick sheep being introduced to Britain around 5,500 years ago descending from the Northern Pin Tail group of sheep. Genetic analysis shows that Herdwick sheep are closely related to the Soay and North Ronaldsay sheep.

As a Biomedical Electronics Engineer I am extremely interested in the field of prosthesis, in particular bionics using electromyography (EMG). If the idea of having an extra limb interests you, look no further! We could be very close to achieving this…

I came across a recent study which really interested me: a collaboration of researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Freiburg came across a method allowing the addition of an extra limb, being made possible via the utilisation of unused bandwidth along neuronal pathways. This technology could be particularly useful in various engineering applications from surgery to assisting space missions.we

Imagine the idea of Dr Octopus from Spiderman becoming a reality.

Don’t run out of ink on this one. With the January Blues in full swing, the incidences of broken hearts are sure to be on the rise. Not to worry though, a team of researchers from the Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich) have developed 3D printed artificial heart valves to allow a patient’s own cells to form new specialised tissue using micro-scale cell scaffolding.

As a Biomedical Electronics Engineer this advancement in additive manufacturing of complex biomaterials is fascinating to me.

As a Biomedical Scientist student, I am particularly interested in the use of stem cells and embryonic stem cells in developing organs that are able to cure disease. Whilst most research has stemmed from using human and animal cells, it wasn’t until I came across this news story that opened my mind up to the possibility of growing organs and body parts from just an apple or asparagus.