MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Micro neural circuit transplantation-MNT

One-line solution summary:

This surgical modality will benefit patients with paralysis, comatose patients and with neurodegenerative diseases.

Pitch your solution.

1)Problems addressed-

Focal neurological deficit post stroke , brain tumor and neurosurgical operations, quality of life in comatose patients.

2) Solution-

Microscopic neural circuit transplantation to substitute the lost neural circuit during stroke and other injuries to the brain. Plasticity will help form connections between the previously existing neural circuits and newly transplanted neural circuits. The neural circuit will function both anatomically and physiologically.

3) Materials and method-

a)Functional neuronal circuit to be harvested from cadaveric donor.

b) Stored in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (1) and transported. CSF can act medium to store and transport neural circuit as neural circuits retain their functional capacity when stored in CSF.

c)Stored neural circuit is transplanted into the recipient brain after appropriate matching is done.

4) Impact of solution

According to WHO 15 million people suffer from stroke each year. Of these 5 million people die and other 5 million are permanently disabled. Globally there are 80 million people living with experienced stroke. This is surgical modality will benefit this patients.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

Problem within the challenge-

Covid-19 has been known to cause stroke in some patients. This surgical modality will help those people having stroke with paralysis or comatose patients. Patients with neurological deficits like paralysis have a increased fatality rate considered to healthy persons in any pandemic.

Scale of problem within the community-

Globally there are 80 million people living with experienced stroke . Every year 5 million people either die of stroke or are permanently disabled. MNT will improve the quality of life those disabled people and people living with neurodegenerative diseases and reduce the amounts of death due to stroke or traumatic brain injury.

Factors leading to problem-

People in both developing country and developed country are having an unhealthy lifestyle.

There are genetic factors leading to neurodegenerative diseases and aging process which leads to both stroke and neurodegenerative diseases.

Traumatic brain injury can be due to accidents.

Statistics of problem-

In 2013, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation unveiled staggering statistics based on research into the prevalence of paralysis across the U.S.

According to the study, there are nearly 1 in 50 people living with paralysis – approximately 5.4 million people. That's the same number of people as the combined populations of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. And that number is nearly 40 percent higher than previous estimates showed.

What is your solution?

Solution-

Microscopic neural circuit transplantation to substitute the lost neural circuit during stroke and other injuries to the brain. Plasticity will help form connections between the previously existing neural circuits and newly transplanted neural circuits. The neural circuit will function both anatomically and physiologically.

Materials and method-

a)Functional neuronal circuit to be harvested from cadaveric donor.

b) Stored in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (1) and transported. CSF can act medium to store and transport neural circuit as neural circuits retain their functional capacity when stored in CSF.

c)Stored neural circuit is transplanted into the recipient brain after appropriate matching is done.

Simple terms-

Brain is just like a solved puzzle. A solved puzzle communicates message to the reader. But if a part of puzzle goes missing it doesn't make any sense. We need to replace that part lost with another identical part so that puzzle makes sense. Missing part of the puzzle is analogous to neural circuit. That neural circuit needs to be transplanted to the brain so that circuit could transmit information like in the puzzle to carry out daily activities thus curing paralysis, coma.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Target population-

People living with paralysis and coma, neurodegenerative diseases are target population.

This target population amounts to about 80 million.

The target population has a bad quality of life. This project seeks to improve the quality of life in the target population.

Engagement-

There needs to be clinical trials on this surgical modality in which target population will participate which will improve the life of patients.

Micro neural circuit transplantation is intended to improve the quality of lives of these patients.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Other

Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.

Covid-19 has been known to cause stroke in some patients. This surgical modality will help those people having stroke with paralysis or comatose patients. Patients with neurological deficits like paralysis and coma have a increased fatality rate considered to healthy persons in any pandemic. This will reduce the rates of mortality in future pandemics.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Concept: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea.

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

This idea is in its preliminary stages. It's still conceptual as it needs further research to make it as perfect as possible because we are dealing with human lives.

Clinical trials must be done to have the outcome of the modality.

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Dr Soubhagya R. Tripathy (MCh neurosurgery)