by Helping paralyzed people walk seems like a miracle, but it could soon become a reality.
In recent years, New York’s largest hospital system, Northwell Health, has developed bioelectric technology that allows paralyzed patients to move.
Bioelectric technology harnesses the body’s own electrical signals to communicate properly with the nervous system. A paralyzed patient hooked up to a bioelectric device can feel and even move.
The hospital has already seen some incredible applications.
“We had a patient named Kevin…totally paralyzed from the neck down after diving into a swimming pool,” explained Michael Dowling, CEO of Northwell. “Thanks to the technologies we developed at Northwell, for the first time in history, this patient can move his arms… When you touch his arms, he has sensation, which opens up the possibility that in years to come , paralyzed people will be able to walk again.
The end goal is for the device to be portable and simple enough to use that a patient can take it anywhere, instead of using it only in a hospital laboratory.
Northwell is just one of many health systems in New York that are making science fiction a reality.
Earlier this year, NYU Langone became one of the first hospitals in the world to transplant an animal organ into a human and the first to perform a double transplant that gave a patient both an artificial heart pump and a kidney pork.
The kidney had been genetically modified to look more like a human kidney.
Lisa Pisano, Langone’s 54-year-old patient, was not a good candidate for a human organ transplant because she struggled with several chronic illnesses. Doctors believe the double transplant prolonged his life.
Meanwhile, a number of New York-based startups are focused on improving the software and technology that doctors rely on to care for their patients.
Tempus, based in Midtown, compiles the world’s largest database of clinical and molecular data from diseased patients. It analyzes each patient’s diseased cells to help doctors determine which treatments and drugs may be most effective in fighting diseases such as cancer and cardiomyopathies.
Flatiron Health is focused on creating software that connects cancer research institutes around the world so they can communicate better in hopes of providing patients with the most up-to-date care and keeping doctors informed about effective treatments used by their colleagues.
Komodoo Health in Flatiron helps patients find the best providers and treatment options in their area by offering a map with detailed information about providers and the treatments they offer.
These efforts are stimulated by public investments.
Earlier this week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the state would invest $150 million – the largest amount of any state – in a cell and gene therapy research center on Long Island. .
It’s the latest step in building a $430 million “innovation hub” that will focus on gene editing, or correcting mutations – a science that promises to one day cure cancer , cystic fibrosis and heart disease.
Hochul said last Tuesday: “We are leading the way in gene and cell therapy, a revolutionary new form of medical treatment that repairs damaged cells and kills those that have mutated into tumors. »
And Dowling – who said he wouldn’t be alive without today’s medical technology – believes innovation has made this period the best time in the world to be alive.
“I have a heart condition. I have three stents. If I had had the problem I had in the 1970s, I wouldn’t be here today because I have a huge blockage,” he explained. “When I was taken to the hospital [ten years ago] within ten minutes they identified a problem and 40 minutes later I had three stents and I was discharged.
“We are very, very, very lucky to be alive today because what we can do is much more than what we could do 50 years ago.”
This story is part of NYNext, a new editorial series that highlights New York innovation across industries, as well as the people leading the way.
