The blind, the deaf and the wheelchair-bound sometimes have damaged nerves that prevent their bodies from functioning correctly. But researchers at Lock Haven University and Penn State University are developing tiny implants that could restore sight, hearing and motion to those whose nerves were damaged by an injury or illness.
Dr. Indrajith Senevirathne, who teaches physics and nanotechnology at Lock Haven, explains that the nanosensors he is working on would be implanted underneath a patient’s skull, on the top layer of the brain. They would be small enough to target individual nerve cells, which is important because nerve cells that are physically close to each other often transfer signals that drive different functions, like walking, reading or writing.
“The promise is that eventually, we can have devices that directly work with your brain,” says Senevirathne, who also does research at Penn State.
The implants are made of a type of biopolymer that conducts electricity and is soft, like what is already in the human body. That’s an improvement over implants used now, which usually contain metal or semiconductors and stop working over time.
Senevirathne emphasizes that the project requires specialists from a variety of disciplines, including chemistry, engineering and neuroscience. He’s working with Penn State scientists Dr. Stephen Fonash, Dr. Justin Tokash, Dr. Bruce Logan and graduate student Suxing Pan. They plan to form a partnership on the project among researchers at Lock haven, Penn State and its Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. The next step is to set up trials with lab mice to study how the nanosensors work with living cells.
“I have really high hopes that at the end of the day, we have something that helps people,” Senevirathne says.
Source: Dr. Indrajith Senevirathne, Lock Haven University
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen