BrainBridge, a biomedical engineering and neuroscience startup, has revealed its pioneering plans to make the world's first head transplant system.
They have unveiled their ambitious robotic system in an eerie CGI video that features the head transplantation from one robot to another.
World's First Head Transplant Machine?
While the company had been operating stealthily, it revealed plans for the integration of artificial intelligence and advanced robotics for the execution of total head and face transplant surgery. Their technology aims to provide hope to patients who face medical conditions that cannot be treated, such as paralysis, cancer, and neurodegenerative conditions.
The ambitious procedure involves the transplantation of a patient's head to a brain-dead, healthy donor body. It aims to keep one's cognitive abilities, memories, and consciousness.
The firm plans to make use of high-speed systems for the prevention of brain cell degeneration and ascertain the compatibility between the donor body and head transplant. Advanced AI algorithms and molecular-level imaging will help with the exact reconnection of the nerves, spinal cords, and blood vessels.
The integrated robotics platform of the company covers two autonomous surgical robots meant for performing simultaneous surgeries on two bodies at once.
The process may also cover a comprehensive care plan after the operation to prevent rejection and encourage healing. This may be followed by four weeks of induced coma to enable the healing of the transplant sites.
Ambitious Technology
However, one of the main obstacles, among many, that must be overcome is the inability of the medicine to adequately repair spinal cord and nerve damage. If this is not achieved, any recipient of the head transplant may be paralyzed from below the neck.
The company is currently recruiting specialists to help them overcome such issues, hoping that the release of their plans would attract global talent onboard.
According to BrainBridge, they expect the project to result in breakthroughs in full body transplants and spinal cord reconstructions in the short term. However, in the long-term, they plan to expand it to cover areas that may transform healthcare.
Hashem Al-Ghaili, a science communicator and biotechnologist who leads the project, says that experts from various fields have been evaluating the research. Al-Ghaili adds that the goal of technology is to push medical science's boundaries and offer innovative solutions to those who are dealing with life-threatening conditions.
Al-Ghaili explains that each step of the concept must be thought out carefully based on extensive scientific data and research that various experts have conducted in several fields.
BrainBridge claims that the first actual surgery may be performed within a span of eight years.
While the scientific community has not responded to the work, BrainBridge is actually not the first to delve into this field. Other names in the space of brain-computer interface include Emotive, Neurable, Nextmind, Kernel, and Elon Musk's Neuralink.
While head transplants may be part of the future and are quite far away, advancements, if ethically done, could bring milestones in healthcare, especially when it comes to spinal cord damage.
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