Imagine controlling devices merely with your thoughts. Dr. Jacob George and his team are developing cutting-edge technologies that allow individuals with amputations to manipulate an advanced prosthetic, the Luke Arm, with their minds. The innovation promises newfound independence for people with disabilities.

Under the glow of the laboratory lights in the Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital, a single robotic arm sits on a table. Its fingers extend upward, reaching for a stem of plump grapes. The forefinger and thumb move into the pincher position, ready to pluck a single grape from its cluster. The movement is clean and precise. And it’s being controlled by the human mind.

With the Luke Arm, a person thinks about an action, and we translate that into actual movement.

Jacob George, PhD, is on a mission to harness the power of thought and use it to interact with the devices around
us. It’s a vision for a future that he’s determined to build: a landscape where every person can interact with the world without limitations.

It’s the seemingly impossible made possible. And it’s happening at U of U Health. The Luke Arm—a bionic prosthetic named after the one and only Luke Skywalker— has made headlines for its capabilities, throwing George into the national spotlight and raising awareness for the research he and his colleagues are conducting to improve the lives of people with amputations.

“With the Luke Arm, a person thinks about an action, and we translate that into actual movement,” George says. The bionic arm also has sensors that trigger electrical stimulation of residual arm nerves after detecting contact with objects. The brain perceives this as a natural sense of touch, making the prosthetic more responsive and intuitive than virtually anything else available to patients.

Though interdisciplinary collaboration is at the center of this groundbreaking work, George contends that there’s something essential that sparks everything. Something that comes before these incredible inventions can make their significant impact. That something is the generosity of private donors like you.

“Small populations like patients with amputations are not a huge market, so it can be challenging to secure the kind of funding to start the work we know is going to make a difference,” George says. Researchers need to demonstrate their innovation’s proof of concept in order to receive substantial and necessary investments, but it’s incredibly difficult to secure that investment from large entities without initial seed funding.

This is the pivotal juncture where you can make the difference for life-changing cures, therapeutic approaches, and interventions— where you can enable this research to become real.