The chip, developed through a partnership between the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and the Columbus-based Battelle Memorial Institute, works by activating a sleeve to move a paralysis patient's hand, Medical Xpress reports.

Ian Burkhart, a 23-year-old quadriplegic from Dublin, Ohio, is the first patient to use the so-called Neurobridge chip. Scientists who developed the device describe it as an electronic "neural bypass" for spinal cord injuries that reconnects the brain directly to muscles, allowing voluntary and functional control of a paralyzed limb.
 

Burkhart is the first of a potential five participants in a clinical study designed to test its safety and effectiveness, as a first step on the road to making the chip available more widely.
 

"It's much like a heart bypass, but instead of bypassing blood, we're actually bypassing electrical signals," said Chad Bouton, research leader at Battelle. "We're taking those signals from the brain, going around the injury, and actually going directly to the muscles."
 

The Neurobridge technology decodes the user's brain activity and uses a high-tech muscle stimulation sleeve that translates neural impulses from the brain and transmits new signals to the paralyzed limb. The technology has been in the works for nearly a decade.
 

Burkhart, who was paralyzed four years ago during a diving accident, said he joined the six-month, federally-approved OSU clinical trial of the device, hoping it could help others with spinal cord injuries.
 

"Initially, it piqued my [interest] because I like science, and it's pretty interesting," Burkhart told Medical Xpress. "I've realized, 'You know what? This is the way it is. You're going to have to make the best out of it.' You can sit and complain about it, but that's not going to help you at all. So, you might as well work hard, do what you can and keep going on with life."
 

Two years ago, Bouton and his team began collaborating with Ohio State neuroscience researchers and clinicians Dr. Ali Rezai and Dr. Jerry Mysiw to design the clinical trials and validate the feasibility of using the Neurobridge technology in patients.
 

During a three-hour surgery on April 22, OSU researcher Ali Rezai, M.D., implanted the pea-sized chip into Burkhart's brain. The chip interprets brain signals and sends them to a computer, which recodes and sends them to the stimulation sleeve — essentially translating Burkhart's thoughts into movement.
 

"The surgery required the precise implantation of the micro-chip sensor in the area of Ian's brain that controls his arm and hand movements," Dr. Rezai said.
 

He said this technology may one day help patients affected by various brain and spinal cord injuries such as strokes and traumatic brain injury.
 

"It's definitely great for me to be as young as I am when I was injured because the advancements in science and technology are growing rapidly and they're only going to continue to increase," Burkhart said.