Giant Step Forward For Neural Bypass Technology

Ian Burkhart, a 26-year-old Dublin, Ohio native was paralyzed in a diving accident in 2010 that resulted in quadriplegia.  Three years after the accident he volunteered to participate in a study conducted by physicians and neuroscientists from The Ohio State University in coordination with Battelle researchers. 

Ohio State’s Dr. Ali Rezai implanted a tiny chip known as a Utah Array, manufactured by Blackrock Microsystems, into the left motor cortex of Burkhart’s brain. It serves as a listening device that captures neural activity in the part of Burkhart’s brain that governs hand movements.