A team from the Department of Neurosciences have created a device that could one day restore bladder function to patients with a severed spinal cord. Researchers have discovered that electrodes wrapped around bundles of nerves can interpret signals that say the bladder is full. The device has worked on rats, and the challenge now is to convert the components for humans.

Research Associate, Dr Daniel Chew says, “The device is not the ultimate goal; the ultimate aim is to regenerate the spinal cord. What we’re doing is restoring some function.”

Click here to read the study published in Science Translational Medicine http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/210/210ra155.short