Sound Waves, Brain Waves and Nutrition: Making Waves for Quality of Life

No, we’re not joking; we’ve asked people living with motor neuron disease (MND) to collect their urine for 24-hours, in order to look at their dietary intake. This talk will provide a first-hand insight into the nutritional challenges of an individual living with MND, as well as highlight some of the exciting research that is coming out of the University of Sheffield to address these issues. Don’t worry, we won’t be asking for any samples…

We hear thanks to specialised cells inside our ears called hair cells, which, as the name suggests, rely on hair-like structures to detect vibrations produced by sound. Hair cells detect, encode and transmit sound information to neurons, which will deliver it to the brain. Defects in hair cell or neuron function affects our hearing capability, as occurs, for example, in age-related hearing loss. Unveiling its causative mechanisms is a powerful tool to develop strategies to restore hearing function.

There are 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK, 77% experience upper limb weakness. At TeleRegain we are developing technology that provides upper-limb stroke rehabilitation from the comfort of a patient’s own home. Currently, muscle stimulation is used to help rehabilitate patients by causing muscles to contract. However, patients are often not consciously intending to cause that movement. TeleRegain enhances the rebuilding of the brain-body connection by using a brain-computer interface, only stimulating the muscles when a patient is intending to move their muscles.