Associate Professor of Engineering Leigh Hochberg '90 has received a Clinical Science Development Award of $135,000 per year for up to three years from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The award will fund his clinical research project that hopes to help restore motor function for patients suffering paralysis.
Each participating institution is allowed to nominate up to three researchers for the award each year. After an internal process at Brown, Hochberg was chosen as one of the nominees and submitted a full application to the foundation, he said. Ultimately, 20 researchers from across the country received awards.
The prize will help facilitate the participation of the varied team of engineers and neuroscientists necessary to design and improve neural interface systems, Hochberg said. The project involving the interface systems, now in its fifth year, has enabled four paralyzed participants to control a computer cursor with their thoughts, using an implanted cerebral chip.
With the money, Hochberg and others hope to enable the paralyzed to e-mail, browse the Web and control external assistive devices such as prostheses. They would also like to lower the size and cost of the interface and make it fully implantable. The ultimate aim, Hochberg said, is to "reconnect brain to limb," allowing patients with neural disorders to regain control of their own muscles.
Though enrollment in the project is currently limited to those with spinal cord injuries, brain stem injuries, muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the project could also lead to benefits for those with other disorders, helping scientists to "get an insight into what happens in a wide range of neurologic diseases and injuries," Hochberg said.
Hochberg expressed enthusiasm for the "huge potential" to create neural interface devices at Brown and better understand basic science in order to improve the quality of life of those with paralysis and neural diseases. He attributed the development of advanced neurotechnologies at Brown to the "wide and remarkable expertise" of the University's neuroscience and engineering professors.
Opportunities are available for undergraduate students to join the project, Hochberg said. He recommended that interested students enroll in neuroscience classes and talk to professors to get involved.
