In this episode, we talk to Dr. Cindy Chestek about her work on signal processing for prosthetics and what the future of prosthetics might look like.

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/gEp6Z-E0CVo
Our Website: https://www.scifitoreality.com/ 
Our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RealSciFiToReality
 
Cindy's favorite SciFi book recommendations: 
Lock In: https://amzn.to/2WWerwA 
The Three Body Problem: https://amzn.to/3tlqY8v 

Cindy's google scholar page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=36sxAZEAAAAJ Cindy's Research page: https://chestekresearch.engin.umich.edu/ 
Cindy's Twitter: https://twitter.com/chesteklab 

Show Notes: 
0:00 - Intro 
1:15 - How do the muscle grafts that Cindy's lab work on get us larger signals from nerves? Here is a rather old research paper that gives a high level overview of nerve cuffs. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254428346_NERVE_CUFF_ELECTRODES_FOR_PROSTHETIC_AND_RESEARCH_APPLICATIONS
Presentation on some of Cindy's research: https://spotlight.engin.umich.edu/mind-control-prosthesis/
4:20 - Paul Cederna, the plastic surgeon who enables a lot of this work is mentioned: https://www.uofmhealth.org/profile/387/paul-stephen-cederna-md
5:18 - The work Cindy's lab is doing in the brain 
9:47 - What are the limitations on current prosthetic research? DEKA arm https://www.analog.com/en/landing-pages/001/deka.html
The 5 finger Ozer hand Cindy mentions refers to the i-limb prosthetic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-LIMB_Hand
11:43 - If Cindy's lab had an infinitely capable prosthetic what could they do with their nerve signals? 
12:22 - What prosthetic manufacturers Cindy's lab has been working with. 
13:28 - What are the physical limits of prosthetic manufacturing? 
15:47 - How long and what will the research path look like to make prosthetics better than our organic limbs? 
18:19 - Going through the ethics of prosthetics and the risks. It is great to hear how important regulation is and how grateful Cindy is for their study participants. 
22:12 - What an experiment for these prosthetics looks like. 
23:16 - Cindy's take on scientific journalism 
25:40 - Is Cindy's lab writing to nerves to simulate feeling as well? Yes, they are doing nerve stimulation as well. The University of Utah has some good work in this area: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5702130/
As does Case Western: https://engineering.case.edu/news/new-understanding-neural-language-gives-amputees-ability-discern-light-touch-intense-pressure
31:54 Cindy's work in brain-computer interfaces? 
33:16 - Brain implants in the motor cortex for amputees? 
35:32 - Cindy's favorite science fiction ideas: Lock-in: https://amzn.to/2WWerwA
38:47 - What other BCI companies are you excited about? 
https://neuralink.com/
Stentrode based BCI https://synchron.com/
https://www.paradromics.com/
Despite Doug's protests, he was thinking of Synchron Neuralink pong video: https://youtu.be/rsCul1sp4hQ
41:28 - How do you work on what Cindy works on? 
43:05 - Cindy's path on her career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna_Shenoy
44:41 - What Cindy would like you to check out: The Three Body problem: https://amzn.to/3tlqY8v 
Chong Xie's electrodes from Rice: https://news.rice.edu/2020/09/14/gentle-probes-could-enable-massive-brain-data-collection/ His research: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Chong-Xie-2117777010
Nick Melosh's BCI work: https://www.meloshgroup.com/neural-interface
Brain Controlled stimulation of a paralyzed limb at Case Western: https://thedaily.case.edu/man-quadriplegia-employs-injury-bridging-technologies-move-just-thinking/