Dr. Chester Ho wins United Spinal’s James J. Peters Award for his work with “bionic neurons.”
By Rob Ingraham
Dr. Chester Ho (center) receives a plaque recognizing his work with functional electrical stimuulation from Dr. Vivian Beyda on behalf of United Spinal’s Research and Education program. Also at the ceremony were (from left to right) Dr. Murray Altrose, Dr. Joe Francis, and Dr. Robert Ruff.
A research scientist at the Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Center in Cleveland, Ohio, working with tiny implantable devices known as “bionic neurons” (BIONs) is the 2006 recipient of United Spinal Association’s JamesJ. Peters Memorial SCI Scholar Award.
At a ceremony at the Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D) Service in Washington, DC, last month, Chester Ho, MD, was awarded $75,000 from United Spinal in support of Ho’s Career Development funding from RR&D. Ho’s research targets skin and bladder problems related to spinal cord injury (SCI).
Ho is currently studying the use of BIONs, which employ electrical signals to stimulate nerves, with the goal of improving tissue health and preventing pressure sores. Pressure sores are a leading cause of recurrent hospitalization among individuals with SCI. BIONs are powered and controlled via radio waves from a small external controller worn by the patient. The BION itself is about the size of a long grain of rice. It is an integrated circuit chip sandwiched inside an antenna coil and is implanted nonsurgically with the use of a 12-gauge hypodermic needle. As a minimally invasive technology, BIONs offer an advantage over systems that require surgical implantation of a stimulator or that apply electrical currents at the surface of the skin. BIONs enable therapists to apply currents directly to one or more muscles at widely varying levels of intensity, depending on the clinical need.
In addition to preventing bedsores, BIONs can be used for conditioning muscles around the knee in osteoarthritic patients; stimulating and promoting healthy urination and bowel movements by assisting with gastric emptying and respiratory clearing; and treating obstructive sleep apnea. Their modular, generic nature, and nonsurgical implantation make it feasible to add new prosthetic functionality at any place and time over the course of a patient’s disease condition. Virtually any physiological and regenerative function of the body that is controlled by electrical currents (i.e., almost everything) can potentially be addressed.
Dr. Ho is a staff physician at the Cleveland VA Medical Center and an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University. He has authored numerous scientific articles and is co-author of a chapter on burn and wound therapy in Comprehensive Aquatic Therapy. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development.
The award, originally known as The United Spinal Association Scholar Award, was established in the year 2000 as part of the Career Scientist Program of VA’s RR&D Service. In 2002 the name of the award was changed to honor the longstanding and significant support for SCI research by United Spinal’s late Executive Director James J. Peters. Since 1977, United Spinal has contributed over $34 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs in direct or indirect support of spinal cord research and education.
Rob Ingraham is senior editor.
