USC researchers help treat patients with memory loss


Memory creation involves the translation of complex electrical signals across various regions of the hippocampus — a process that has now been successfully mimicked by a device USC researchers helped create.

Professor Ted Berger and Research Associate Professor Dong Song of the Viterbi School of Engineering have collaborated with researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center to develop a cutting-edge brain prosthesis that could help individuals struggling with memory loss.

The device, which involves the implantation of a set of electrodes in the brain, can bypass damaged hippocampal regions to keep providing a correct translation of signals to the next intact region. Its design relies on an algorithm created by Song and decades of Berger’s research, as well as more than a decade-long partnership with Sam Deadwyler and Robert Hampson of the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology at Wake Forest Baptist. The prosthesis was originally designed at USC and tested at Wake Forest Baptist, though both groups have now tested models.

Though the device can translate electrical signals for other hippocampal regions, there is still no way to “read” a memory based solely on the translation of signals.

“It’s like being able to translate from Spanish to French without being able to understand either language,” Berger told USC News.

Next, researchers aim to send translated signals far enough into the process to generate long-term memory. It is currently supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and could help previously injured soldiers now struggling with memory loss.

“Being able to predict neural signals with the USC model suggests that it can be used to design a device to support or replace the function of a damaged part of the brain,” Hampson told USC News.