Research Contract n° QLRT-1999-31372 has been awarded by the Commission of the European Union in the frame of the Quality of Life Program (Fifth framework Programme) for the project SENS : "Smart Electrode for Nerve Sensing". This project has been granted to the Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, for the Neural Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory (Prof. C. Veraart, co-ordinator), to the University of Aalborg, Aalborg, Denmark, to the University College London, London, UK, to the Université de Mons-Hainaut (Prof. L. Laude), Mons, Belgium, to Neurotech S.A., Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, and to Applied Microengineering Ltd., Abingdon, UK.
This three-year research project aimed at exploiting the advantages offered by a cuff electrode, a large number of recording contacts and on site microchips to improve selective recording from peripheral nerves. The possibility to record from axons of specific diameter and lying at specific positions within the nerve section would indeed provide access to the natural sensors usually available in paralyzed limbs or disabled organs. Sensor feedback is essential to properly control prosthetic devices and using natural sensors would tremendously improve the number and quality of available signals. Another advantage would be the ease with which complete systems including sensory afferents could be entirely implanted, an important condition to make any neural prosthesis easily acceptable.
This neural sensing project is linked to other previous research activities in the lab, such as NeuralPRO, and F.R.S.M. Grant N° 3.4590.02.
It is also linked to further developments in the frame of the ADVENS and IMANE projects.
Last update: March 11th, 2007.
This website has been designed by the laboratory with the help of Pierre
Dubrulle.
For comments please contact:
Brigitte Dieu < brigitte.dieu@gren.ucl.ac.be
>