The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) up to $2.5 million to develop an implantable neural device with the ability to record and stimulate neurons within the brain to help restore memory. DARPA’s interest is in traumatic brain injury (TBI), which disrupts memory.
DARPA says TBI has affected 270,000 military service members since 2000. It could also help with Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy. LLNL’s Neural Technology group, in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Medtronic, hopes to develop an implantable neural device that can restore individuals’ ability to form new memories and access previously formed ones.
How it will work:
The device will be a neuromodulation system, a sophisticated electronics system to modulate (control) neurons, with real-time recording and closed-loop stimulation of neural tissues to bridge gaps in the injured brain and to understand how new memories are formed.