Podcast: Inside the Neuralink Trials
Dr. Allan Levi speaks with Dean Ford about the potential of brain-computer interfaces.
What if a paralyzed person could send a text, play chess or navigate a computer using only their thoughts?
In this episode of Inside U Miami Medicine, listeners are taken inside one of the most talked-about frontiers in neuroscience: brain-computer interfaces. At the center of the discussion is a breakthrough clinical trial involving Neuralink, an investigational brain-computer interface that creates a wireless digital connection between the brain and external devices.
Allan Levi, M.D., Ph.D., the Mary M. and Sash A. Spencer Endowed Chair in Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is one of the surgeons and co-investigators on the Neuralink trial taking place at UHealth—University of Miami Health System. Leaders in brain-computer interface technology, UHealth has successfully completed several Neuralink implants since being selected as the second U.S. site for company’s PRIME study.
Unlike earlier technologies that relied on bulky wires or surface-level recordings, this system uses robotically implanted, ultra-precise electrodes placed directly into the brain’s motor cortex, allowing for dramatically richer and faster signal capture.
During the episode, Dr. Levi shares how technology works in real life to restore physical function for patients with severe spinal cord injuries or neurodegenerative conditions.
“Some of the feats that these patients have accomplished surpass individuals without impairments,” said Dr. Levi, professor and chair of neurological surgery at the Miller School.
What once sounded like science fiction is now being used by study participants today.
Tune in to hear how this tech is changing the future of care.
Tags: brain injury, brain-computer interface, Department of Neurological Surgery, Dr. Allan Levi, Inside U Miami Medicine podcast, Neuralink, neurological surgery, SCI, spinal cord injury, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis