Medicine's future may involve brain chips

GAINESVILLE, Fla., July 25 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists are developing chips that, implanted in one's brain, could allow an amputee to control an artificial arm by thinking about it.

The science fiction-like technology being developed at the University of Florida might also control epileptic seizures by interpreting signals in the brain and stimulating neurons to perform correctly.

Using a $2.5 million National Institutes of Health grant, University of Florida researchers are creating a "neuroprosthetic" chip designed to be implanted in the brain. The researchers are studying the concept in rats but expect to develop a prototype within four years that could be tested in people.

University of Florida Assistant Professor Justin Sanchez, director of the university's Neuroprosthetics Research Group, said the initial goal is to create a device that can correct conditions such as paralysis or epilepsy.

The day may not be too far off when patients can control a prosthetic hand or leg just by thinking about it, Sanchez said. "It's becoming a reality."

The research was reported in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods.