Question: what types of medicines do you make for what illnesses

Christopher Bullock answered on 19 Jun 2017:

I don’t make medicines (like tablets) per se but instead I make what we call medical devices – these are the tools and equipment used by doctors to treat people and are different to medicines. The big one that I have been working on right now are called neuroelectrodes.

A neuroelectrode is basically a piece of technology that connects our nerves (including the brain) to external electronics. We can use them to both stimulate nerves (which can be used to treat certain diseases like Parkinson’s) and to sense what the nerves are doing (this can be used to understand diseases better). The most advanced types of neuroelectrodes can do both of these things, sensing and stimulating, and are called brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). In theory, these can be used to do things like connect the brain to robotic arms so that you could have a prosthetic that you control with your mind and you can actually feel what the arm is touching – just like the real thing!

Neuroelectrodes have a lot of potential uses in medicine and they are being used more and more.