Colorado man becomes world’s first to have brain plugged into computer at this level

Meet Brandon Patterson — a 41-year-old from Elbert, Colorado, who is literally plugging his brain into a computer, and it’s as incredible as it sounds. Patterson, who has been paralyzed from the chest down since a 2017 car accident, became the first person in Colorado — and the first in the world — to have a brain-computer interface, or BCI, implanted into the higher-functioning cortex of his brain. The surgery was performed in February at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. He now has three ports on top of his head that can connect and communicate directly with outside computers.

The results so far? Pretty mind-blowing. Shortly after surgery, Patterson said he could feel his fingers moving on their own — something he hadn’t experienced in nine years. “Thinking about moving my fingers, which I haven’t been able to do in nine years,” he said. Right now the technology allows him to control objects on a screen and make some movements with a robotic arm, but researchers at CU Anschutz say the long-term potential goes way beyond that — think treatments for spinal cord injuries, ALS, mood disorders and even dementia.

Patterson is clear-eyed about his future, saying he knows walking likely isn’t in the cards, but that expanding what he can do from his wheelchair is something he’s genuinely excited about. And the ripple effect of his participation in this research could be enormous — UCHealth and CU Anschutz say patients across the entire Rocky Mountain region now have access to participate in BCI studies that could shape the future of neurological care for generations to come. Not a bad legacy for a guy from Elbert.