Experimental brain-spine computer interface helped a paralyzed man walk

Comment A paper in Nature reveals how a brain implant and computer-controlled prosthetic helped a paraplegic man in his recovery from a partially severed spinal cord.

Some two years after the research project began, the newly published study describes how some experimental technology from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Geneva, Switzerland, has not only managed to electronically reconnect the patient's brain with the lower part of his spinal cord, enabling him to stand, walk, and even climb stairs – but it's also helping with his rehabilitation.

The brain-spine interface (BSI) implant used in this case seems to be helping him to grow new nerve connections. It's taken over a year of hard work to get this far, and he is now able to walk short distances even when the prosthetic is turned off. And this is all more than a decade after he suffered the ...