Researchers from Brown University and Massachusetts General Hospital say they’ve raised enough cash to resume clinical tests in a breakthrough study on using electrodes to simulate neural signals.
The researchers said they raised about $8 million and received regulatory approval to recruit 15 patients into the BrainGate 2 study. The original BrainGate study was started in 2004 by Brown University-spinoff Cyberkinetics Inc.
The company, which later changed its name to Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc. and relocated to Foxborough, pulled its funding last year under pressure to turn around its ailing business.
That effort proved futile, as the company shut down in March after unloading its Andara Oscillating Field Stimulator System to NeuroMetrix Inc. in Waltham for $350,000. Former CEO Tim Surgenor joined the NeuroMetrix board in April.
The BrainGate system uses a sensor implanted in the brain to detect neural signals, that are then decoded by a computer into signals for assistive technologies, according to the study’s website. Its long-range goal is to create smarter prosthetic limbs.
The new study officially launched in May, but researchers announced plans this week to recruit 15 patients with some form of spinal cord injury, stroke or other neurological impairment to participate in the study, which is being funded by several grants from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, various charitable foundations and the National Institutes of Health.
The study is set to run through 2015.