Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 57

Technology Restores Sense of Touch in Nerves Damaged
as a Result of Injury
A tiny sensor is implanted
in the nerve of the injured
limb.
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv, Israel
A new technology inspires hope among
people who have lost their sense of touch
in the nerves of a limb following amputation
or injury. The technology involves a
tiny sensor that is implanted in the nerve
of the injured limb, for example in the
finger, and is connected directly to a
healthy nerve. Each time the limb touches
an object, the sensor is activated and conducts
an electric current to the functioning
nerve, which recreates the feeling of
touch. The researchers emphasize that
this is a tested and safe technology that is
suited to the human body and could be
implanted anywhere inside of it once clinical
trials will be done.
The technology was developed under
the leadership of a team of experts from
Tel Aviv University: Dr. Ben M. Maoz,
Iftach Shlomy, Shay Divald, and Dr. Yael
Leichtmann-Bardoogo from the department
of biomedical engineering,
Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, in collaboration
with Keshet Tadmor from the
Sagol School of Neuroscience, and Dr.
Amir Arami from the Sackler School of
Medicine and the Microsurgery Unit in
the department of hand surgery at Sheba
Medical Center. The study was published
in ACS Nano.
The researchers say that this unique
project began with a meeting between
the two Tel Aviv University colleagues -
biomedical engineer Dr. Maoz and surgeon
Dr. Arami. " We were talking about
the challenges we face in our work, " says
Dr. Maoz, " and Dr. Arami shared with me
the difficulty he experiences in treating
people who have lost tactile sensation in
one organ or another as a result of
injury. It should be understood that this
loss of sensation can result from a very
wide range of injuries, from minor
wounds - like someone chopping a
salad and accidentally cutting himself
with the knife - to very serious injuries.
Even if the wound can be healed and the
injured nerve can be sutured, in many
cases the sense of touch remains damaged.
We decided to tackle this challenge
together and find a solution that will
restore tactile sensation to those who
have lost it. "
In recent years, the field of neural prostheses
has made promising developments
to improve the lives of those who have
lost sensation in their limbs by implanting
sensors in place of the damaged
nerves. But the existing technology has a
number of significant drawbacks, such as
complex manufacturing and use, as well
as the need for an external power source,
such as a battery. Now, the researchers at
Tel Aviv University have used state-of-theart
technology called a triboelectric nanogenerator
(TENG) to engineer and test on
animal models a tiny sensor that restores
tactile sensation via an electric current
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Medical Design Briefs - August 2021

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