7/11/2014 DARPA funds two universities to produce memory-restoring device : LIFE : Tech Times

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TAG DARPA , brain , Traumatic Brain Injury , UCLA , UPenn , Neuroscience

By Tina Shah, Tech Times | July 10, 9:25 AM SHARE(1 ) TWEET(2 ) 0 COMMENTS

DARPA funds two universities to producememory-restoring device

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) induces neurological irregularities that cansometimes lead to memory loss. Researchers focus on specific regions ofthe brain in cases like these, such as the hippocampus and prefrontalcortex, which play large roles in functioning memory.

In the fall of 2013, a challenge was set forth for neuroscientists inthe U.S. to try to develop a device that can be implanted andrestore the memories of veterans with brain injuries. The issuer ofthe challenge was the Defense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency (DARPA). It offered $40 million in funding to whoever wasbrave enough to try. On Wednesday, July 9, DARPA announced thetwo challengers: a team of researchers from UCLA and a secondteam from UPenn.

UCLA will receive up to $15 million and UPenn will get up to $22.5million...if their developments meet the requirements DARPA setsforth. They will have to develop and test electronic implantabledevices that can both detect memory loss and restore the deficitscaused by TBI.

The project to create these "neuroprosthetics" is called the Restoring Active Memory (RAM) program. It aims toalleviate the anguish and pain of memory loss that result from TBI or disease. More than 270,000 military personnelhave been diagnosed with the TBI since 2000. Additionally, 1.7 million U.S. civilians are affected yearly.

(Photo : Helmut Januschka)

DARPA is giving a total of $40 million to UCLA and UPennresearchers to develop an implantable device that willdetect memory deficits and fix them.

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7/11/2014 DARPA funds two universities to produce memory-restoring device : LIFE : Tech Times

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TBI creates gaps in memories formed before the injury and diminishes the ability to form and hold on to newmemories. Recent research found that some forms of memory could be honed with direct brain recording andstimulating. The process allows for real-time reading of what is happening in the brain, and offers promising results;it's a hot area of neuroscience. The scientists working on the DARPA project aim to use this technique, as it hasalready proven effective.

Using this technique, researchers were recently able to figure out how the brain processes language. They foundthat the brain breaks down words and sentences and matches them to 12 "sound clusters" it has stored away.

The direct recording technique is also used to help epileptic patients. Doctors implant electrodes in patients' brainsand record the activity of specific neurons in memory-implicated regions while the patients perform tasks such asbrainteasers or video games. The readings further the understanding of what works, what doesn't, and what reallyneeds to in order for patients to ever overcome brain injuries and disease.

This technique will be used to figure out exactly what is going on in patients with TBI. To fix it, the UCLA team led byDr. Itzhak Fried, will use the approach of stimulating the entorhinal cortex to remove gaps in memory. Previousresearchers from UCLA found a significantly improved memory response by stimulating this region of the brain.

The UPenn research team, led by neuroscientist Michael Kahana, will do something different. It will look atrecordings in regions displaying successful memory retention and retrieval and then will try to understand whatmakes these processes go wrong.

One of the issues in this field of research, and within the RAM project, is the feasibility and the ethics of the work.

"We have to keep reminding ourselves that, no, we are not speaking the brain's secret language-we're doing somevery crude stimulating," says Dr. Anthony Ritaccio, a neurosurgeon. "When working with the brain, you have to keepslapping yourself in the face as a reality check; we still understand so little."

The RAM teams will also use animal studies to implement quantitative computer models to understand theprocesses behind complex memory formation.

The project is part of President Obama's BRAIN Initiative, which sets out to map the brain in 12 years withcollaborations across the country and a budget of $4.5 billion.

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