Understanding ALS Disease Biology to Pursue Cell Repair and Regeneration
Brain-Computer Interfaces: Leigh Hochberg, MD, PhD
For people living with ALS – and their family members, friends, care-partners and healthcare
providers – the progressive loss of the ability to speak, type on a laptop or tablet, and write are
among the most difficult aspects of the disease. For people with ALS, and for other people with
paralysis, the person knows exactly what they want to communicate, but neurologic disease is
preventing those brain signals from reaching the muscles that enable speech or hand movement.
There is an urgent need to ensure people with ALS will never lose the ability to communicate. Led
by Leigh Hochberg, MD, PhD and the extraordinary BrainGate team at Mass General, together with
an unmatched multi-institutional and multidisciplinary team, we are getting closer to achieving
that goal. Intracortical brain-computer interfaces (iBCIs) are harnessing the revolutions in neural
engineering and machine learning/AI. By “listening”
to the neuron activity associated with the intention
to move or speak, BrainGate software interprets
that brain activity in real time, allowing people with
ALS to regain intuitive, fast control over tablet
computers and conversational, computer-generated speech – simply by thinking about what they
want to say or type. Not assistive technology, communication technology, all on a path to being
faster and more reliable than any other available approach.
A key aspect of the BrainGate research is that it is conducted in the user’s home. After
neurosurgical placement of tiny brain recording devices, clinical trial participants return home –
which is where restorative neurotechnologies need to work, around the clock, every day. Ongoing
research is directed toward that important goal, requiring the insights of neurologists,
neuroscientists, neural engineers, computer scientists and others. The BrainGate research is not
only a model for academic team science, but also a model for medical device companies currently
seeking to develop intracortical brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to help people with ALS and other
forms of paralysis, by substantially reducing the investment risk for those companies and speeding
their path to market.
Leigh Hochberg, MD, PhD is the Co-Director of the Center for
Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery, Neurocritical Care and Stroke Services,
Department of Neurology, Mass General, Professor of Engineering at Brown
University, Director of the VA RR&D Center for Neurorestoration and
Neurotechnology, Providence VA Medical Center and Senior Lecturer on
Neurology at Harvard Medical School.
