Completed Project (2014-2021)
Research Team: Dorian Haci, Sara Ghoreishizadeh, Yan Liu, Timothy Constandinou
Collaborators: Andrew Jackson, Anthony O'Neil, Patrick Degenaar, Roger Whittaker, Andrew Sims, Mark Cunningham, Marcus Kaiser, Stuart Baker (Newcastle), Nick Donaldson (UCL)
Funding: Wellcome Trust/EPSRC Innovative Engineering for Health NS/A000026/1
CANDO is a world class multi-site cross-disciplinary project to develop a cortical implant for optogenetic neural control. The goal is to create a first-in-man trial of the device in patients with focal epilepsy. This 7-year, £10m Innovative Engineering for Health Award, funded by the Wellcome Trust and EPSRC involves a team of over 30 neuroscientists, engineers and clinicians based at Newcastle University, Imperial College London, University College London, and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation.
Within the brain nerve cells connect together to generate rhythmic activity visible as brain waves on an EEG. In many neurological diseases this network is disrupted, producing abnormal patterns of activity. In epilepsy, abnormal activity can be localised to a small ‘focus’, but this can spread across the whole brain as a seizure. Epilepsy affects 600,000 people in the UK alone and uncontrolled seizures have a devastating effect on patients’ quality of life. Most cases respond to drugs, but if these are ineffective it may be necessary to surgically remove the ‘focus’. However, surgery is not suitable in all patients and can damage cognitive function.
This project, led by Dr Andrew Jackson and Professor Anthony O’Neill from Newcastle University, proposes an alternative based on a small implant that continuously records the abnormal activity and provides precisely timed stimulation to prevent it ever developing into a seizure. This requires that some cells within the focus are genetically altered using a safe virus to become sensitive to light. The implant will monitor their activity and provide pulses of light from tiny LEDs to prevent the build of abnormal activity.