Stéphanie Lacour e Grégoire Courtine, entrambi ricercatori del Politecnico di Losanna (EPFL) hanno presentato domenica a Austin, nel Texas, un'anteprima delle sperimentazioni cliniche in corso sulle paralisi presso l'ateneo federale.
I due scienziati lavorano su "interfaccia neuroprotesiche", ossia dispositivi elettronici in grado di comunicare con il sistema nervoso. Courtine ha recentemente mostrato, in laboratorio, che primati paralizzati possono camminare di nuovo grazie ad un sistema denominato "interfaccia cervello-midollo spinale".
Questo dispositivo, interamente portatile, ha il compito di decodificare i segnali dal cervello relativi al movimento, e di stimolare il midollo spinale per contrarre i muscoli delle gambe.
Nel corso della conferenza svoltasi nella città texana, è stata illustrata una "road-map" finalizzata alla trasformazione di questa tecnologia in una terapia destinata alle persone affette da paralisi.
Red.MM/ARi
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