Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson Pondering Manual Dexterity and Bionic Hands with Sliman Bensmaia
The seeming ease with which we perform everyday tasks with our hands belies the complexity of the nerve cell circuits that control them. Professor Sliman Bensmaia is a professor at the University of Chicago where his laboratory works to understand how the brain controls hand movements. He is using this knowledge to develop bionic hands that sense touch and control the movements of the fingers and wrist. Here he talks about his research and its applications for people who have suffered an arm amputation or are paralyzed by a spinal cord injury.
LINKS
Professor Bensmaia’s webpage: https://bensmaialab.github.io/
Review article on manual dexterity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9169115/pdf/nihms-1796186.pdf
Review article on the science and engineering of bionic hands: https://journals-physiology-org.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/doi/epdf/10.1152/physrev.00034.2020
Professor Besnmaia lectures: