Begun at the request of the French government with funding of €40 million under France 2030, Audace! aims to bring new scientific concepts to CEA labs and to remove technological barriers to development of promising technologies. CEA-Leti's participation includes development on a brain-computer interface new therapy for poststroke rehabilitation in the context of the BrainSync project.
“A stroke is a serious condition that affects around 150,000 patients each year in France, often resulting in long-term effects, particularly motor impairments and paralysis," said Pr. Olivier Detante, neurologist at Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, “The idea behind the BCI4Stroke clinical trial is to detect brain signals that can be used in rehabilitation to improve patient recovery."
WIMAGINE® a unique brain–computer interface technology
The unique WIMAGINE® brain–machine interface technology has already contributed to two world-first achievements published in The Lancet Neurologyand Nature.
In 2019, a tetraplegic patient was able to use brain activity to control a four-limb exoskeleton. In 2023, a paraplegic patient regained natural control of walking through the combination of CEA's WIMAGINE® technology with an implantedspinal cord stimulation therapy developed by EPFL, CHUV, UNIL, and ONWARD Medical (Lausanne, Switzerland).
Serpil Karakas, software manager at CEA-Leti, is now exploring the use of this technology to develop a neurorehabilitation platform that would enable post-stroke patients to carry out rehabilitation sessions. This approach is particularly aimed at patients with limited upper-limb mobility, especially those experiencing motor impairment.
“The neuroprosthesis develop in the context of BCI4Stroke clinical trial consists of WIMAGINE® implants developed at CEA and decoding software that captures and predicts the patient's movement intentions to control rehabilitation tools such as a robotic glove, a surface stimulator, or a virtual environment," she explained.
Study initiation and first patient enrollment
Neurotechnology researcher Lucas Struber said CEA-Leti, Grenoble University Hospital and Saint-Étienne University Hospital have applied for authorization from regulatory authorities to conduct a clinical trial aimed at enabling post-stroke rehabilitation using these BCI. The principle of a BCI for rehabilitation relies on establishing a real-time coupling between detected motor intention in brain activity and corresponding sensorimotor feedback (e.g., stimulation, robotic assistance, or virtual feedback). This repeated association could promote neuroplasticity by strengthening relevant neural pathways, thereby potentially supporting functional recovery potential.
“The first patient is expected to be enrolled in 2026 and would follow a six-month rehabilitation program designed to evaluate whether this protocol can help restore greater daily independence and reduce residual disability."
In addition to support from the French government under the Audace! program, the CEA-Leti team's work is supported by the European Commission through a grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) under the Horizon Europe program.
Read also
- Lorach, Henri, et al. "Walking naturally after spinal cord injury using a brain–spine interface." Nature 618.7963 (2023): 126-133.
- Benabid, Alim Louis, et al. "An exoskeleton controlled by an epidural wireless brain–machine interface in a tetraplegic patient: a proof-of-concept demonstration." The Lancet Neurology 18.12 (2019): 1112-1122.