DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Motor paralysis represents one of the most devastating and life-altering injuries a person can suffer. At present, there are limited options available for repairing areas damaged within the central nervous system. A fundamental new approach involves bypassing spinal cord injuries by recording motor cortical signals and employing these signals to directly control spinal cord stimulation-elicited limb movements in paralyzed primates. The following proposal aims to significantly expand the functionality of a neural prosthesis by using newly devised chronic implantation and dynamic spinal cord stimulation techniques as well as multiple target decoding and optimal feedback control approaches that read out cortical signals from individual neurons or small populations of cells in order to direct basic reach-hold-return movements in an unconstrained paralyzed limb and to several targets in a cubic space. Using modern computational approaches, we will also uncover new patterns of activation among neurons involved in motor plasticity and identify network level changes as primates learn to control a prosthetic limb. This project would provide a major advancement in the ability to reanimate a paralyzed body and potentially offer a clinically applicable means for functionally circumventing spinal cord and other related injuries.

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Motor paralysis represents one of the most devastating and life-altering injuries a person can suffer with limited options at present for repairing areas damaged within the central nervous system. The goal of the following proposal is to significantly expand the functionality of a neural prosthesis and to better understand how motor learning occurs. The ability for disabled individuals to one day gain control of their paralyzed limb from such a device has significant social implications.