Shirley Ryan AbilityLab received a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program to study neurally controlled bionic legs with osseointegration (OI).
The study is the first to combine OI, targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR), and pattern-recognition control to operate a fully powered bionic lower-limb prosthesis.
“It’s this combination of technologies that makes the device ultra-novel, advanced, and intuitive,” said Levi Hargrove, PhD, the study’s lead researcher and director of the Regenstein Center for Bionic Medicine at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. “We hope that it will enable the bionic limb to feel light, comfortable, and to offer unprecedented control for the user. This study builds on decades of our research leadership in bionics and marks a significant step forward in the field of osseointegrated bionic legs.”
As part of the study, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is partnering with Integrum, a Swedish company that invented the OI technique, and Northwestern Medicine, which will implant the device and perform targeted TMR surgery on eight research subjects. Additionally, the study builds on existing collaborations with researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.
TMR is a revolutionary surgical technique that was developed by collaborators at Northwestern Medicine and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab to allow those with amputations control of bionic prostheses. Following the surgeries, the research team will lead clinical trials to evaluate the comfort and function of the osseointegrated bionic legs in comparison to socket-based technologies.
