Israeli Study Offers Hope Of ‘Rewiring’ Nerves To Restore Lost Sense Of Touch

This article was first published by The Times of Israel and is re-posted with permission.

New Israeli nanotechnology will restore the sense of touch for people who have lost it due injury or amputation, scientists say.

A Tel Aviv University lab has developed a tiny sensor that can be implanted into fingers, toes, or any other body part that has lost the sense of touch. It “bypasses” the broken nerves in that area, and “wires” the sensation to other healthy nerves.

Biomedical engineer Dr. Ben M. Maoz told The Times of Israel that he had the idea after hearing from Dr. Amir Arami, a colleague at Tel Aviv University and microsurgeon at Sheba Medical Center, about how many of his patients fail to regain sensation. Now he has successfully tested his invention on rats, reporting his success in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Nano.

“This is super exciting, because we were able to generate something that gives real benefits to people facing real problems, and it all started with a chat between me and a friend,” Maoz said.

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