Enter Oscar, the Bionic Cat!

This, my friend, is the main entity that inspired me to pursue my once small interest in prostheses. I know that for many, their influences to pursue bio-engineering are drawn from an inspirational person, who despite losing their legs, refuses to stop running or a person who sacrificed a limb, or even more, saving lives. But for me, my inspiration comes from a little black cat named Oscar.

Oscar, otherwise known as the bionic cat, had his two hind legs torn off by a harvester while sleeping under a bush in 2009. Instead of putting him down or leaving him without the ankle down part of his legs, Oscar’s owners turned to veterinarian Noel Fitzpatrick in England. Fitzpatrick is responsible for creating the first feline ITAPs (intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics), a prosthetic with a dome structure which enables skin to bond with the implant. This event sparked my interest for two reasons: one, this is one of the first cases where the prosthetic bonded incredibly well with the body and function; two, it was done for a cat, my favorite animal of all time. Instead of pursuing bio-engineering for my own species, I would like to study in this field for our furry little family members. But before I start ranting about my love of animals, let me tell you about the point of this blog: prostheses.

Prosthesis stems from the Greek word prósthesis, meaning "addition" or "attachment." Like its root, a prosthesis is an attachment of the body, an artificial body part. A prosthesis can be aesthetic, like a glass eye, or they can restore a specific function, like a prosthetic limb equipped with biosensors.

At the SMoRG Lab, I will be working with neuroprosthetics, which are, as the name suggests, prostheses for damaged or missing sensory and motor output structures. One of the best known neural prostheses are cochlear implants, which restore the function of hearing.

                                        

At the SMoRG lab, I will be working with neural prosthetics for the hand. I will update you on that when I learn more about the virtual prosthetic when I meet it. Thank you for reading!