Scientists at Stanford University have created a new type of prosthetic skin that is able to detect pressure and relay an electrical signal that delivers the input to a living brain cell. The material replicates one of the functions of touch – the mechanism allowing a person to determine the pressure differences between a firm grip and a limp handshake.

Zhenan Bao, professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University and leader of the 17-person research team, had spent years examining materials that could reproduce the healing and flexing abilities exhibited by the human skin, while simultaneously sending temperature, pain and touch signals to the brain. The next step forward would be creating an electronic fabric that is flexible and embedded with sensors – which could mimic some of the sensory functions of skin.

The technique uses a two-ply construct made of plastic. While the top layer creates the sense of touch, the bottom layer transports the electrical signals to the brain, while changing it into biochemical stimuli that can be decoded by neurons.

To prove that the signal could indeed be recognised by a nerve cell, the researchers created a line of neurons that mimicked a part of the nervous system. The pressure signals from the prosthetic skin were changed into light pulses, which activated the nerve cells, hence proving that the prosthetic skin could produce sensory output that was recognised by neurons.

“This is the first time a flexible, skin-like material has been able to detect pressure and also transmit a signal to a component of the nervous system,” said Bao, in a Stanford press release. "We have a lot of work to take this from experimental to practical applications, but after spending many years in this work, I now see a clear path where we can take our artificial skin.”

This groundbreaking work in the field of prosthetics has been featured in Science magazine.

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