Blog – Page 5

For decades, scientists studying brain disorders have focused almost exclusively on proteins and the genes encoding them. Now, research from Thomas Jefferson University’s Computational Medicine Center suggests that several classes of small regulatory molecules, fittingly known as small RNAs, may play a much larger role in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and in a healthy brain, than previously thought.

In a study recently published in Translational Psychiatry, a team led by Isidore Rigoutsos, Ph.D. took a comprehensive look at small RNAs in brain samples from people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and individuals without psychiatric illness. Their goal was to find out what kind of small RNAs are active in the brain, and whether their levels change in disease.

“Little attention had been paid to small RNAs in these disorders,” says Dr. Rigoutsos, “even though small RNAs help control numerous processes by modulating the abundance of genes.”

Researchers from Brown University and Mass General Brigham have developed an implantable brain-computer interface that allowed two people with paralysis — one with ALS and one with a spinal cord injury — to communicate through rapid, accurate typing. The system uses microelectrode sensors in the motor cortex, maps letters to attempted finger movements on a QWERTY keyboard, and decodes those neural signals into text.

In the study, one participant reached a top speed of 110 characters per minute (about 22 words per minute) with a 1.6% word error rate, and both participants were able to use the system from home after calibration with as few as 30 sentences. The results were published in Nature Neuroscience.

This is the kind of neurotechnology that starts to close the gap between thought and communication.

Implantable device research from the BrainGate clinical trial enables communication through rapid typing for a patient with ALS and a patient with a spinal cord injury.