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February 17, 2017
jnani
LONDON (February 7, 2017) – Blackrock Microsystems’ wireless technology is a crucial part of an exhibition in the London Science Museum, highlighting the work being done by Grégoire Courtine and his team at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. The exhibition showcases the remarkable way that Blackrock technology was utilized by EPFL scientists to rewire the brain and spinal cord of a paralyzed monkey, allowing it to walk again.
Courtine’s work is the first of its kind to successfully let a paralyzed monkey regain mobility. Its outstanding feature is that it is wireless. Without any cabling, the signals triggering movement from the monkey’s brain were transmitted to its spinal cord by using Blackrock’s wireless transmitter and receiver. This is the first crucial step towards a future where human patients suffering from mobility constraints can walk again without being literally tied to a research lab setting.
In addition to Blackrock’s wireless technology, their electrodes were a key part in deciphering and utilizing the commands from the monkey’s brain. The gold-standard Utah Array was used to read the signals emitted by the monkey, which were then picked up by Blackrock’s wireless system, and then re-routed to the stimulator located in the monkey’s spine.
Blackrock Microsystems is committed to supporting scientists, like those at EPFL, in implementing and developing their research. The outstanding work done by EPFL and honored at the London Science Museum is reinforcing Blackrock’s mission to help scientists make a tangible difference in the lives of real people.
More on the exhibition can be found here.
About Blackrock Microsystems LLC
Blackrock Microsystems, based in Salt Lake City, was founded in 2008 and has become the world’s leading provider of technology in the neuroscience, neural engineering, and neural prosthetics space. The Company’s technology has been at the core of worldwide innovations in Brain Machine Interfaces, implantable bionic technologies and epilepsy diagnostics. blackrockneurotech.com
Media contact:
Shilo Case
+ 1 801 582-5533, ext. 222
scase@blackrockmicro.com
