DEEP TECH HEALTH + NEUROTECH
EPFL professor Grégoire Courtine has created a “digital bridge” which has allowed a man whose spinal cord damage left him with paraplegia, to walk. The brain–spine interface builds on previous work, which combined intensive training and a lower spine stimulation implant. Gert-Jan Oskam participated in this trial, but stopped improving after three years. The new […]
Adam Sonaband and Northwestern colleages used a skull-implantable ultrasound device to open the blood-brain barrier and repeatedly permeate critical regions of the human brain, to deliver intravenous chemotherapy to glioblastoma patients. This is the first study to successfully quantify the effect of ultrasound-based blood-brain barrier opening on the concentrations of chemotherapy in the human brain. […]
Hermona Soreq, Yonatan Loewenstein, and Hebrew University of Jerusalem colleagues have uncovered a sex-specific molecular mechanism leading to accelerated cognitive decline in women with Alzheimer’s disease. Current therapeutic protocols are based on structural changes in the brain and aim to delay symptom progression. Women typically experience more severe side effects from these drugs. This research […]
Patients who received Eli Lily’s monthly donanemab infusion in an 18-month study demonstrated a 35% slower decline in memory, thinking, and ability to perform activities of daily living, and were 39% less likely to progress to the next stage of the disease. Brain plaque was also reduced significantly. The risk of the drug is brain […]
A study led by Damian Marie and UNIGE, HES-SO Geneva, and EPFL colleagues showed the effect of music on working memory decline. 132 healthy retirees from 62 to 78 years of age, who had not taken any lessons for at least six months, were assigned to two groups — piano practice, and active listening. According […]
For the first time, there is an autonomous sensing and stimulating unit sitting in a specific brain region and ensuring that neuronal activity in that region is controlled. The closed-loop system is called NeuralTree and was developed by Mahsa Shoaran and EPFL colleagues, to overcome the lack of control caused by epileptic activity or tremor, […]
Yu Takagi, Shinji Nishimoto and Osaka University colleagues have published a study which demonstrates that AI can read brain scans and re-create largely realistic versions of images a person has seen. Future applications could include enabling communication of people with paralysis, recording dreams, and understanding animal perception, among others. Additional training was used on the existing text-to-image generative […]
University of Washington’s Valerie Daggett, Dylan Shea, and colleagues, have developed a lab test that can measure levels of amyloid beta oligomers in blood samples. Known as SOBA, the test detected, in a study of 310 subjects, oligomers in the blood of Alzheimer’s patients, but not in most of the control group, which had no […]
Aviv Mezer and Hebrew University colleagues used quantitative MRI to identify cellular changes in Parkinson’s disease. Their method enabled them to look at microstructures in the striatum, which is known to deteriorate during disease progression. Using a novel algorithm developed by Elior Drori, biological changes in the striatum were revealed, and associated with early stage […]
In a recent study, Boston University professor Robert Reinhart used tACS to stimulate brain activity in 150 people aged 65-88, resulting in memory improvements for one month. Stimulating the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex improved long-term memory, while stimulating the inferior parietal lobe, with low-frequency electrical currents, boosted working memory. Participants were asked to recall 20 words […]