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EPFL's new life sciences building, 2008: life sciences at the university in Lausanne is shared by several disciplines rather than belonging to one department

Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Neuroprostheses is a mouthful of a word for what is essentially a simple concept: devices are implanted into the human body to help it compensate for or repair deficiencies caused by neurological problems. EPFL’s new Center for Prostheses, which opens officially 1 January 2009, is taking on the work of researching and developing such devices.

The simplicity of the concept hides the enormous complexity of the task, which requires combining skills in several scientific disciplines. It will mean pushing our understanding of how the neurological system functions well past the understanding we have today.

EPFL notes in its press release for the centre that “recent progress in artificial retinas and man-machine interfaces that permit communication or action via thoughts alone gives us a glimpse of the possibilities the future might hold for improving the lives of the handicapped.” Between that glimpse and the ambitious project’s goals, lies a mountain of R&D to climb.

The devices themselves will most likely be made of sensors, connections and electronic chips. The “deficiencies” may be lack of vision or hearing, a combination of several motor skills that have not developed properly or have been lost. In the most extreme situations, a person might have such limited motor skills that even blinking is impaired, making it impossible to use the best external devices currently available to compensate such handicaps.

The Center for Neuroprostheses will bring together in a major project researchers from a wide range of specialties within the fields of life sciences, engineering and information technology, working to create implants that are linked directly to the body’s neurological system. EPFL says no such team exists in the world today – and it is determined to put together what will be the world’s leading centre, “situated at the crossroads between fundamental research, clinical applications and market opportunities.”

This requires large sums of money, clearly. The university has found funding for five chairs, each one financed for 10 years. Its commitment to research that has clear commercial benefits means that more funds from the healthcare industry are likely to follow. EPFL will also be able to play on the notoriety gained from its cutting edge research for very different projects, such as its contributions to the Alinghi boat project and Solar Impulse, a solar-powered airplane. Whle the projects may seem related, some of the underlying research could prove helpful. The Solar Impulse project, for example, involves developing tools that use the nervous system to help pilot Bertrand Piccard fly, another area of human-machine interface.

Jeffrey Alan Hubbell, EPFL

Jeffrey Alan Hubbell, an American who has been with EPFL for nearly five years as professor of regenerative medicine and pharmacobiology laboratory, is overseeing the project. He told GenevaLunch that the centre will initially focus on working with physically handicapped people, rather than people with mental disabilities, many of whom also have physical disabilities, in some cases very severe. “There’s just so much out there, so much to cover,” he concedes. The task is daunting and EPFL, to make good progrress, will remain sharply focused for now on rehabilitation: motricity and helping children who are deaf and without language to hear and to speak.

The Bertarelli Foundation is funding two chairs as part of its mission to support cutting edge research to improve health, and its commitment to the local community: one in neuroengineering and neuroprostheses and the other in neurophysiology and cochlear coding implants.

Defitech, the foundation created by Daniel and Sylviane Borel, works with young people, especially young adults with disabilities, to encourage them to use information technology. The foundation is funding one chair: non-invasive man-machine interfaces, as part of its larger mission to promote research and development of new technologies that can help people with mental or physical disabilities.

Defitech in the past two years made a name for itself by setting up Internet corners for children and adolescents in Swiss hospitals, a successful venture that is now independent of the foundation, in Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich hospitals. It is now focusing on encouraging companies to take on teenagers with major disabilities who have been mainstreamed in schools but who, as they leave, are unable to find work or meaningful activities. The foundation’s work with them, to develop their use of computers, could prove useful contacts in the field for EPFL’s research as it progresses.

The other two chairs will be financed by the Sandoz Family Foundation and the International foundation for paraplegic research.

Related article: “EPFL announces new research centre for neuroprostheses,” 12 November 2008, GenevaLunch