The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a wireless implantable brain prostheses for service members and veterans who suffer memory loss from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). In the U.S, TBI affects about 270,000 service members and another 1.7 million civilians.
The implant would help people with memory issues to consciously recall basic knowledge such as events, times, and places. As Dr. Justin Sanchez, DARPA Restoring Active Memory Program Manager, explained, “The neuroprosthetics developed and tested over the next four years will be a wireless fully implantable neural-interface medical device for human clinical use.
Development of the implant will involve help from the University of Pennsylvania which has been selected for an award of up to $22.5 million, a University of California (Los Angles) team was awarded $15 million, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was awarded up to up to $2.5 million as reported by Dr. Sanchez.
Dr. Sanchez reports that while development of the implant will take four years, one of the goals is to start phasing in some early prototype devices the first year and collect preliminary data to help guide more complex parts later in the project.
In the future, new medical hardware capable of interfacing with the brain and computational models will enable clinicians to interface with the circuits of the brain that produce memory formations and recall. The knowledge gained will be used to develop next generation medical neuroprosthetic devices.