Brain computer chips tested at U-M Health provide possible medical breakthrough

U-M Health doctors test brain computer chips to treat incurable conditions

Computer chips the size of a pencil eraser are being tested in the human brain which may lead to life-changing results - and it is what doctors at University of Michigan are counting on.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (FOX 2) - It's not much bigger than a pencil eraser, but doctors are hoping a brain computer chip can deliver big, life-changing results.

Hopes are high that a chip can be implanted in a person’s brain to treat incurable conditions.

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Researchers are working with what's called Brain Computer Interfaces - devices that translate brain signals into action, like controlling a computer or even a robotic arm.

A team at University of Michigan was the first to implant a wireless Brain Computer Interface this year from a developer called Paradromics.

The device was temporarily implanted into a Michigan patient with epilepsy. And that research to pave the way for a full clinical trial.

The neurosurgeon who is leading this research, Doctor Matthew Willsey, a neurosurgeon from U-M Health, says the potential for BCIs is remarkable.

"We have the opportunity to treat people with an incurable condition who otherwise don't have good therapies to restore their paralysis," said . "What we're working on right now, may eventually allow for either replacement or restoration of their motor function many years down the road."

The goal with this growing technology is to help create practical use, so that one day patients who struggle with speech or movement can rely on the brain computer interface or BCI, to use in everyday life.

Jordan Lam, MBBS, is a University of Michigan Health neurosurgeon.

"So your brain produces brain signals from all the different neurons in the brain, firing for everything we do, moving our arms, speaking, even thinking or how we feel," he said. "So a Brain Computer Interface, a BCI, takes these signals by recording them through small electrodes and uses them, analyzing them, in order to produce useful things."

University of Michigan Health is testing another BCI that they hope will help bringing back speech and motor skills.

At the same time, Elon Musk continues to test his Brain Computer Interface technology called Neuralink.