Dr. Cesar Marquez-Chin has been preparing for the future ever since he watched Star Wars for the first time.
Growing up in Mexico City, the UHN scientist spent countless hours at the local movie theatre, watching and rewatching his favourite science fiction movies play out on the silver screen, where his young mind opened up to infinite possibilities.
"For me, science fiction is like going to school," Dr. Marquez-Chin says. “I know that sounds ridiculous, but when I see things on the screen, I get a lot of inspiration.
"It makes me wonder, 'How would I do this? Is this even possible?' I love movies; they transport me to a different planet. I think I watched Star Wars seven times when it came out."
His emerging enthusiasm for technology would soon be tempered by tragedy. On the morning of September 19, 1985, a powerful 8.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the Mexico City area, killing more than 10,000 people and injuring 30,000 others.
"It was an awful situation," Dr. Marquez-Chin says. “As you can imagine, after that event, the number of people with disabilities on the street grew exponentially.
"I think that planted a seed of interest in the field of rehabilitation engineering."
Now, Dr. Marquez-Chin is part of the Spinal Cord Injury and Neural Engineering and Therapeutics (NET) Team at UHN's KITE Research Institute, where he's developing the kind of futuristic technology he might have seen at the movies back in Mexico.
Mind over matter
Even better, his work combines his love of sci-fi with his interest in rehab.
His current research aims to restore a person's ability to move voluntarily after suffering from one of the two main causes of paralysis: stroke or spinal cord injury. The technology works by retraining the brain to make the body move again without the ongoing aid of assistive devices, such as a wheelchair.
It relies on a brain-computer interface that identifies when the body is trying to move and electrical stimulation to help the nervous system make it happen.
Dr. Marquez-Chin's work couldn't come at a better time. According to a study by the Heart and Stroke Foundation, there are 108,707 stroke occurrences in Canada every year — or one every five minutes — all with the potential to cause some degree of paralysis. There are also more than 85,000 Canadians currently living with a spinal cord injury and around 4,500 new cases every year.
"When we treat someone, we ask them to attempt a movement with the affected limb or limbs depending on the condition," he explains. “The brain-computer interface detects the intention to move by analyzing brain activity in real time.
"When it identifies that the person is attempting movement, it triggers functional electrical stimulation that actually helps the person produce the movement."
