U-M and Stanford share $30m grant to restore speech after stroke

To this end, the philanthropic Marcus Foundation has awarded a $30m grant, led by Stanford, that would benefit victims of aphasic stroke. U-M will receive $19m of the total grant.

The US National Institutes of Health estimated over one million Americans have aphasia and there are over 210,000 new cases per year. Damage to the brain impacts their ability to listen, write, read and speak, yet they retain their ability to understand others' speech. 

U-M researchers Cindy Chestek and David Blaauw will lead the design and construction of an implantable, long-term brain-computer interface. At Stanford, researchers will work with people who have had a stroke that impaired their ability to speak. They will evaluate whether they can ‘decode’ words from other parts of the brain that were not affected by the stroke. 

"The current electrode technology has been in use since the 1990s and it's called the Utah array," said Chestek, U-M professor of biomedical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science, and robotics. "It's an implantable electrode that can last from one year to seven. But that's not reliable enough for a medical treatment, and the device can also create a lot of scar tissue in the brain.

"David and I are going to build a much better device, which will consist of a lot of tiny devices."

Specifically, they are building tiny carbon-based electrodes that will record signals from the brain's temporal region, which handles auditory information and language and is usually intact in patients with aphasia.

The electrodes used to pick up those signals are made of carbon fibre and are smaller than capillaries, doing very little damage to the brain over time - even when large numbers of them are implanted. A small computer chip attached to each carbon fibre will transmit the neural signal to the outside world.

"Our approach is completely wireless, and that distinguishes us from many of the interface technologies that are in the market right now," said Blaauw, the Kensall D. Wise Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "By making it wireless and incredibly small, we're making sure there's little damage to the brain and it leaves the protective layer around the brain intact."

Stanford's work will be led by Jaimie Henderson, professor of neurosurgery, and Frank Willett, assistant professor of neurosurgery. The team ultimately plans to implant U-M's devices into patients to restore speech.

"This research meets a critical gap as no existing therapies can restore speech in aphasic patients," said Henderson. "We are embarking on something that has never been done before with this innovative project."