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RecruitingNCT07521930INTENTUpdated Oct 9, 2026

Interfacing With NeuroTechnology to Expand Neural Throughput (INTENT)

An interventional study of INTENT Neural Interface System in Tetraplegia/Tetraparesis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Muscular Disorders, Atrophic, sponsored by Johns Hopkins University. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-09.

Sponsored by Johns Hopkins University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Device feasibility

Updated Oct 9, 2026Start date movedGo to Updates ↓
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
5
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of an implantable device that records and stimulates different areas of the brain to allow adults affected by disabling paralysis (see Eligibility for more details) to control and receive feedback from assistive devices.

Read the detailed description

The goal of this early feasibility study is to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of chronic recording and stimulation of the human sensory, motor, and integrative cortices with intracortical microelectrodes to control assistive devices (virtual or real) while also receiving environmental and/or haptic feedback (virtual or real sensors).

02

Conditions studied

  • Tetraplegia/Tetraparesis
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
  • Muscular Disorders, Atrophic
  • Brain Stem Stroke
  • Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI)
  • Muscular Dystrophies
  • Muscular Atrophy, Progressive
  • Pontine Hemorrhage
  • Pontine Infarction

Keywords

  • Assistive device
  • Brain Computer Interface
03

In context

Quadriplegia

222 studies on the registry are indexed under Quadriplegia; 75 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 5 is below the median of 15 across 193 interventional studies indexed under Quadriplegia.

Browse Quadriplegia studies →

Lead sponsor

Johns Hopkins University is the lead sponsor of 1,815 studies on the registry; 315 are open to participants now.

Of its 208 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 144 (69%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Complete or incomplete tetraplegia (quadriplegia), tetraparesis (quadriparesis), severe ataxia, or disabling motor impairments in both upper limbs, based on neurological exam. In addition, these motor impairments may be combined with severe motor-related speech impairment (dysarthria or anarthria), as in Locked In Syndrome (LIS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), including the bulbar variant of ALS.
  • Clinical diagnosis must be established for the etiology of motor impairments, including brainstem stroke*, traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), or progressive and irreversible neuromuscular disease, including muscular dystrophy and motor neuron disease, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). *Brain stem stroke is defined as an acute onset of neurological deficit with clinical features of brain stem or cerebellar dysfunction lasting more than 24 hours together with computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of ischemic infarction or parenchymal hemorrhage.
  • Candidates with traumatic spinal cord injury must have a complete or incomplete tetraplegia or tetraparesis (ASIA Impairment Scale A, B, C) with an injury level of C6 or higher.
  • Candidates with tetraplegia or tetraparesis from traumatic SCI and other non-progressive neurological disorders must have an upper extremity motor score (UEMS, ISNCSCI) of 7 or less in each of the upper extremities. Candidate must also have less than antigravity strength (\< 3) throughout the lower limbs.
  • Candidates with progressive conditions with shortened , such as ALS, must have less than antigravity strength (\<3) throughout the upper limbs.
  • Persistence of motor impairments at least 12 months prior to enrollment if due to a non-progressive neurological cause such as stroke or spinal cord injury
  • Meeting surgical safety criteria, including surgical clearance by the participant's primary healthcare provider, study physicians, and any necessary consultants
  • Ability to communicate reliably, such as through speech or eye movement
  • Stable psychosocial support system with caregiver capable of monitoring participant throughout the study
  • Ability and willingness to travel to study location up to five days per week for the duration of the study
  • Ability to understand and comply with study session instructions
  • Corrected visual acuity sufficient for use of computer monitor

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychiatric conditions or cognitive impairments that would interfere with obtaining or fully participating in study activities.
  • Individuals with active implanted devices, including devices that are incompatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  • to MRI or anticipated need for an MRI during the study period
  • Medical conditions contraindicating device implantation surgery (for example significant pulmonary, cardiovascular, metabolic, or renal impairments making the surgical procedure unsafe)
  • Chronic anti-coagulation and medical contraindication to temporary suspension for surgery
  • Medical conditions contraindicating chronic device implantation (e.g. osteomyelitis, chronic infection, poorly controlled diabetes, cancer, severe disorder, epilepsy, poor wound healing)
  • Participants with dental caries and a significant risk of dental or periodontal infection
  • Chronic oral or intravenous use of or therapy
  • Active cancer within the past year or ongoing chemotherapy
  • Uncontrolled autonomic dysreflexia within the past 3 months
  • Hydrocephalus with or without an implanted ventricular shunt
  • Other chronic, unstable medical conditions that could interfere with subject participation.
  • Persistent suicidal ideation within the past 12 months.
  • History of substance use disorder within the past year
  • Pregnancy (confirmation through blood test)
  • Nursing an infant, planning to become pregnant, or not using adequate
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(7)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Device feasibility
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
5 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    INTENT Neural Interface System

    INTENT Neural Interface System

    Device: INTENT Neural Interface System

Interventions

  • DeviceINTENT Neural Interface System

    Up to eight microelectrode arrays will be implanted on motor, sensory, and integrative cortex, connected to up to three percutaneous pedestals. Neural recording and stimulation will occur during study visits that will occur at least weekly and up to five days per week throughout the study.

    Also known as: NeuroPort, brain-computer interface, brain computer interface, neural prosthesis, neural prosthetic, neuroprosthetic

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Incidence of Device-Related Adverse Events [Safety and Tolerability]

    The primary endpoint of this study is to determine the incidence of device-related adverse events. This will be met if the device is not explanted due to safety concerns throughout the duration of the study.

    Time frame: 54 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of participants achieving BCI control of assistive devices

    A secondary endpoint of this study is the number of participants achieving simultaneous control of two or more assistive devices during the study period.

    Time frame: 54 weeks

  2. Number of participants perceiving sensory feedback

    A secondary endpoint is the number of participants who perceive sensory feedback from intracortical microstimulation during BCI control of assistive devices.

    Time frame: 54 weeks

  3. Number of microelectrodes capable of neural recording and stimulation

    A secondary endpoint will be the number of implanted microelectrodes that are capable of neural recording and stimulation during the study period.

    Time frame: 54 weeks

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
Start date
Sep 2026→Jan 2027
Oct 9, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Oct 9, 2026
    Start date Sep 2026→Jan 2027
    + 1 other change: verification date

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07521930
Collaborators
Blackrock Neurotech, JHU Applied Physics Laboratory, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Apr 13, 2026
Start date
Jan 2027 (estimated)
Primary completion
Jun 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2028 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 9, 2026

Study contacts

Nathan E Crone, MD
Contact
ncrone@jhmi.edu
4109559441
Francesco Tenore, PhD
Contact
francesco.tenore@jhuapl.edu
4437789774
Nathan Crone, MD
principal investigator · Johns Hopkins University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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