tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/bionic-10596/articlesbionic – The Conversation2017-04-10T00:36:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/755892017-04-10T00:36:35Z2017-04-10T00:36:35ZMelding mind and machine: How close are we?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164560/original/image-20170408-2918-1u1y3bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C121%2C1078%2C770&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A noninvasive brain-computer interface based on EEG recordings from the scalp.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE), Photo by Mark Stone</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just as ancient Greeks fantasized about soaring flight, today’s imaginations dream of melding minds and machines as a remedy to the pesky problem of human mortality. Can the mind connect directly with artificial intelligence, robots and other minds through <a href="http://bci.cs.washington.edu/">brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies</a> to transcend our human limitations?</p>
<p>Over the last 50 years, researchers at university labs and companies around the world have made impressive progress toward achieving such a vision. Recently, successful entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk (<a href="https://www.neuralink.com/">Neuralink</a>) and Bryan Johnson (<a href="http://kernel.co/">Kernel</a>) have announced new startups that seek to enhance human capabilities through brain-computer interfacing.</p>
<p>How close are we really to successfully connecting our brains to our technologies? And what might the implications be when our minds are plugged in?</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7t84lGE5TXA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">How do brain-computer interfaces work and what can they do?</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Origins: Rehabilitation and restoration</h2>
<p>Eb Fetz, a researcher here at the <a href="http://www.csne-erc.org/">Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE)</a>, is one of the earliest pioneers to connect machines to minds. In 1969, before there were even personal computers, he showed that monkeys can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.163.3870.955">amplify their brain signals to control a needle</a> that moved on a dial.</p>
<p>Much of the recent work on BCIs aims to improve the quality of life of people who are paralyzed or have severe motor disabilities. You may have seen some recent accomplishments in the news: University of Pittsburgh researchers use signals recorded inside the brain to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76lIQtE8oDY">control a robotic arm</a>. Stanford researchers can extract the movement intentions of paralyzed patients from their brain signals, allowing them <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oka8hqsOzg">to use a tablet wirelessly</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, some limited virtual sensations can be sent back to the brain, by delivering electrical current <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aaf8083">inside the brain</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TOH.2016.2591952">to the brain surface</a>.</p>
<p>What about our main senses of sight and sound? <a href="http://www.secondsight.com/how-is-argus-r-ii-designed-to-produce-sight-en.html">Very early versions of bionic eyes</a> for people with severe vision impairment have been deployed commercially, and improved versions are undergoing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uRuIr35C5Y">human trials right now</a>. Cochlear implants, on the other hand, have become one of the most successful and most prevalent bionic implants – over <a href="https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/cochlear-implants">300,000 users around the world</a> use the implants to hear.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164550/original/image-20170408-29365-148t6y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164550/original/image-20170408-29365-148t6y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164550/original/image-20170408-29365-148t6y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164550/original/image-20170408-29365-148t6y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164550/original/image-20170408-29365-148t6y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164550/original/image-20170408-29365-148t6y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164550/original/image-20170408-29365-148t6y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164550/original/image-20170408-29365-148t6y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A bidirectional brain-computer interface (BBCI) can both record signals from the brain and send information back to the brain through stimulation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>The most sophisticated BCIs are “bi-directional” BCIs (BBCIs), which can both record from and stimulate the nervous system. At our center, we’re exploring BBCIs as a radical new rehabilitation tool for stroke and spinal cord injury. We’ve shown that a BBCI can be used to strengthen connections <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05226">between two brain regions</a> or <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.08.028">between the brain and the spinal cord</a>, and reroute information around an area of injury to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07418">reanimate a paralyzed limb</a>.</p>
<p>With all these successes to date, you might think a brain-computer interface is poised to be the next must-have consumer gadget.</p>
<h2>Still early days</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164517/original/image-20170407-3845-46uqbb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164517/original/image-20170407-3845-46uqbb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164517/original/image-20170407-3845-46uqbb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164517/original/image-20170407-3845-46uqbb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164517/original/image-20170407-3845-46uqbb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164517/original/image-20170407-3845-46uqbb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164517/original/image-20170407-3845-46uqbb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164517/original/image-20170407-3845-46uqbb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An electrocorticography grid, used for detecting electrical changes on the surface of the brain, is being tested for electrical characteristics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>But a careful look at some of the current BCI demonstrations reveals we still have a way to go: When BCIs produce movements, they are much slower, less precise and less complex than what able-bodied people do easily every day with their limbs. Bionic eyes offer very low-resolution vision; cochlear implants can electronically carry limited speech information, but distort the experience of music. And to make all these technologies work, electrodes have to be surgically implanted – a prospect most people today wouldn’t consider.</p>
<p>Not all BCIs, however, are invasive. Noninvasive BCIs that don’t require surgery do exist; they are typically based on electrical (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography">EEG</a>) recordings from the scalp and have been used to demonstrate control of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0403504101">cursors</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyJj32MsAUo">wheelchairs</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6QEGeIKHw0">robotic arms</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baEYCberLUA">drones</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2560/5/2/012">humanoid robots</a> and even <a href="http://homes.cs.washington.edu/%7Erao/brain2brain/">brain-to-brain communication</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The first demonstration of a noninvasive brain-controlled humanoid robot “avatar” named Morpheus in the Neural Systems Laboratory at the University of Washington in 2006. This noninvasive BCI infers what object the robot should pick and where to bring it based on the brain’s reflexive response when an image of the desired object or location is flashed.</span></figcaption>
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<p>But all these demos have been in the laboratory – where the rooms are quiet, the test subjects aren’t distracted, the technical setup is long and methodical, and experiments last only long enough to show that a concept is possible. It’s proved very difficult to make these systems fast and robust enough to be of practical use in the real world.</p>
<p>Even with implanted electrodes, another problem with trying to read minds arises from how our brains are structured. We know that each neuron and their thousands of connected neighbors form an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1238411">unimaginably large and ever-changing network</a>. What might this mean for neuroengineers? </p>
<p>Imagine you’re trying to understand a conversation between a big group of friends about a complicated subject, but you’re allowed to listen to only a single person. You might be able to figure out the very rough topic of what the conversation is about, but definitely not all the details and nuances of the entire discussion. Because even our best implants only allow us to listen to a few small patches of the brain at a time, we can do some impressive things, but we’re nowhere near understanding the full conversation.</p>
<p>There is also what we think of as a language barrier. Neurons communicate with each other through a complex interaction of electrical signals and chemical reactions. This native electro-chemical language can be interpreted with electrical circuits, but it’s not easy. Similarly, when we speak back to the brain using electrical stimulation, it is with a heavy electrical “accent.” This makes it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2631">difficult for neurons to understand what the stimulation is trying to convey</a> in the midst of all the other ongoing neural activity.</p>
<p>Finally, there is the problem of damage. Brain tissue is soft and flexible, while most of our electrically conductive materials – the wires that connect to brain tissue – tend to be very rigid. This means that implanted electronics <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2005.08.015">often cause scarring and immune reactions</a> that mean the implants lose effectiveness over time. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3093">Flexible biocompatible fibers</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40332">arrays</a> may eventually help in this regard.</p>
<h2>Co-adapting, cohabiting</h2>
<p>Despite all these challenges, we’re optimistic about our bionic future. BCIs don’t have to be perfect. The brain is amazingly adaptive and capable of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221127110">learning to use BCIs in a manner similar to how we learn new skills</a> like driving a car or using a touchscreen interface. Similarly, the brain can learn to interpret new types of sensory information <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2016.00072">even when it’s delivered noninvasively</a> using, for example, magnetic pulses. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Learning to interpret and use artificial sensory information delivered via noninvasive brain stimulation.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Ultimately, we believe a “co-adaptive” bidirectional BCI, where the electronics learns with the brain and talks back to the brain constantly during the process of learning, may prove to be a necessary step to build the neural bridge. Building such co-adaptive bidirectional BCIs is the goal of our center.</p>
<p>We are similarly excited about recent successes in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/496159a">targeted treatment of diseases like diabetes using “electroceuticals”</a> – experimental small implants that treat a disease without drugs by communicating commands directly to internal organs.</p>
<p>And researchers have discovered new ways of overcoming the electrical-to-biochemical language barrier. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.115">Injectible “neural lace,”</a> for example, may prove to be a promising way to gradually allow neurons to grow alongside implanted electrodes rather than rejecting them. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600955">Flexible nanowire-based probes</a>, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2015.11.063">flexible neuron scaffolds</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40332">glassy carbon interfaces</a> may also allow biological and technological computers to happily coexist in our bodies in the future.</p>
<h2>From assistive to augmentative</h2>
<p>Elon Musk’s new startup Neuralink has the stated <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/27/15077864/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-computer-interface-ai-cyborgs">ultimate goal of enhancing humans with BCIs</a> to give our brains a leg up in the ongoing arms race between human and artificial intelligence. He hopes that with the ability to connect to our technologies, the human brain could enhance its own capabilities – possibly allowing us to avoid a potential dystopian future where AI has far surpassed natural human capabilities. Such a vision certainly may seem far-off or fanciful, but we shouldn’t dismiss an idea on strangeness alone. After all, self-driving cars were relegated to the realm of science fiction even a decade and a half ago – and now share our roads.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164516/original/image-20170407-29365-1pgv1nt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164516/original/image-20170407-29365-1pgv1nt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164516/original/image-20170407-29365-1pgv1nt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164516/original/image-20170407-29365-1pgv1nt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164516/original/image-20170407-29365-1pgv1nt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164516/original/image-20170407-29365-1pgv1nt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164516/original/image-20170407-29365-1pgv1nt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164516/original/image-20170407-29365-1pgv1nt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A BCI can vary along multiple dimensions: whether it interfaces with the peripheral nervous system (a nerve) or the central nervous system (the brain), whether it is invasive or noninvasive and whether it helps restore lost function or enhances capabilities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3D_coordinate_system.svg">James Wu; adapted from Sakurambo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>In a closer future, as brain-computer interfaces move beyond restoring function in disabled people to augmenting able-bodied individuals beyond their human capacity, we need to be acutely aware of a host of issues related to consent, privacy, identity, agency and inequality. At our center, <a href="http://www.csne-erc.org/research/neuroethics">a team of philosophers, clinicians and engineers</a> is working actively to address these ethical, moral and social justice issues and offer neuroethical guidelines before the field progresses too far ahead.</p>
<p>Connecting our brains directly to technology may ultimately be a natural progression of how humans have augmented themselves with technology over the ages, from using wheels to overcome our bipedal limitations to making notations on clay tablets and paper to augment our memories. Much like the computers, smartphones and virtual reality headsets of today, augmentative BCIs, when they finally arrive on the consumer market, will be exhilarating, frustrating, risky and, at the same time, full of promise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75589/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Wu works for the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) and the University of Washington in Seattle. James Wu receives funding from the National Science Foundation, and has also previously received support from the Washington Research Foundation. The CSNE partners with the companies listed at <a href="http://csne-erc.org/content/current-members">http://csne-erc.org/content/current-members</a>. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rajesh P. N. Rao works for the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. He consults for the company Neubay, Inc., and his organization, the CSNE, partners with the companies listed at <a href="http://www.csne-erc.org/content/current-members">http://www.csne-erc.org/content/current-members</a>. Rajesh Rao receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the National Institutes of Health, and the Keck Foundation. </span></em></p>Brain-computer interfacing is a hot topic in the tech world, with Elon Musk’s announcement of his new Neuralink startup. Here, researchers separate what’s science from what’s currently still fiction.James Wu, Ph.D. Student in Bioengineering, Researcher at the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, University of WashingtonRajesh P. N. Rao, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering , University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/412852015-05-07T10:14:30Z2015-05-07T10:14:30ZAn artificial pancreas has just made giving birth safer for diabetic women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80814/original/image-20150507-1239-y8gizj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Diabetic women are at greater risk of still births, miscarriages and delivery problems.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, a British diabetic women became the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-32531067">world’s first</a> to complete a natural vaginal birth using an artificial pancreas. This news is a big step forward for all mothers with diabetes. </p>
<p>Pregnancy is riskier for women with diabetes of all types. Maternal mortality, birth defect rates, miscarriages and still births are greater than in the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25897357">healthy population</a>, as is the tendency for delivery difficulties for babies with a higher birth weight.</p>
<p>Diabetes covers a <a href="http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/What-is-diabetes/">range of conditions</a> where certain cells cannot absorb enough glucose from the blood. In type 1 diabetes, this occurs because of problems with a patient’s pancreatic production of insulin, the chemical that enables the absorption. In type 2, it is because muscle cells cannot receive the insulin signal.</p>
<p>Diabetes means a patient’s blood glucose levels can easily become too high. This in turn leads to faults in the way the body uses hormones to send signals to different organs. This problem is what causes the higher risk of complications in pregnant diabetic women.</p>
<p>Even though we understand the need to monitor diabetic mothers throughout, after – and even before – their pregnancies, these relatively poor outcomes of pregnancy and labour persist. Women’s insulin levels are often carefully adjusted to cope with the changes in weight, mobility and nutritional needs that come with pregnancy, but this reflects only a small part of the challenge.</p>
<h2>Dangers of pregnancy</h2>
<p>The advent of <a href="http://www.diabetes.co.uk/cgm/continuous-glucose-monitoring.html">continuous glucose monitoring systems</a> <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21864757">has revealed</a> just how often pregnant diabetic women’s blood glucose levels fluctuate dangerously. This is the case even with careful management using insulin pumps, which create a more even administration than injections. Plus the personal discomfort, sleep interruption and false alarms that can come from using continuous glucose monitors <a href="http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/36/7/1818.extract">make it harder</a> to ensure patients use them to manage the condition correctly.</p>
<p>The actual birth is even more of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1521690X11000856">a challenge</a> because of the greater chance for disaster. Withstanding and maintaining effective contractions in order to give birth requires large amounts of energy. That creates greater pressure for adequate blood glucose and insulin levels.</p>
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<span class="caption">Artificial pancreas technology builds on and improves continuous glucose monitoring systems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Cambridge</span></span>
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<p>Glucose levels are typically maintained during the birth through an intravenous glucose infusion and a manually adjustable dose of insulin. The insulin makes sure that the mother’s cells can absorb enough glucose, which in turn prevents the baby’s blood sugar levels from dropping to potentially fatal levels (neonatal hypoglycaemia).</p>
<p>After delivery, the insulin requirement drops sharply and clinical staff must be careful not to give the mother too much and reduce her blood sugar to a dangerous level (maternal hypoglycaemia). This risk <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/15216934/25/1">develops soon after</a> contractions have ended, especially if the mother quickly begins breastfeeding and if medication given to her for labour prevents her from recognising the symptoms of hypoglycaemia.</p>
<p>With all these complications, it is small wonder that diabetic women are often advised to opt for caesarean sections, although these carry their own <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/15216934/25/1">post-operative risks</a> as nutrition and mobility are again impaired.</p>
<h2>Automating care</h2>
<p>The advent of the artificial pancreas <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24757225">has the potential</a> to change this. <a href="http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/research-faculties-and-institutes/health-and-life-sciences/pharmaceutical-technologies/artificial-pancreas/artificial-pancreas.aspx">The technology</a> uses a sensor embedded beneath the skin to determine blood glucose levels and trends and passes that information to the clinical staff. An external electronic device then uses an algorithm to decide how much insulin is needed and administers it using a pump.</p>
<p>Because the glucose readings come from tissue fluid, they only approximate blood sugar levels and can be inaccurate if the levels are changing quickly. Many of the artificial pancreas algorithms <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22575409">used recently</a> in research could cope with making automatic adjustments to the insulin pump output but would not yet be trusted to do so in all circumstances.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Joan Taylor describes her work on artificial pancreas technology.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In critical care, including labour, some manual input for the artificial pancreas will still be important for safety. But eventually the technology will become fully automatic and should greatly reduce the present tragedies in maternity diabetes.</p>
<p>A fully internalised bionic pancreas is much further away – but whether biological, electronic, chemical or even mechanical, this will eventually solve the diabetes problem. Meanwhile the reported case of the first natural birth with the artificial pancreas in Norwich represents a triumph.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41285/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joan Taylor receives funding from the Edith Murphy Foundation (current), a NIHR NEAT grant (2008-2011) and an East Midlands University Lachesis grant (2004-2008). These were all to produce an implantable artificial pancreas.</span></em></p>A British woman has become the first diabetic to give birth naturally using an artificial pancreas.Joan Taylor, Professor of Pharmaceutics, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.