The next logical step in development is to interface motor nerves with sensors in the artificial limb, enabling a prosthetic to respond directly to brain signals. The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), the leading physical rehabilitation hospital in the U.S., has completed the successful rehabilitation of the world's first recipient of a new nerve/muscle graft procedure to control a myoelectric prosthesis. The technique, researched and developed by Dr. Todd Kuiken, MD, PhD, director of amputee services, allows an arm prosthesis to be driven by the user's own thought-generated nerve impulses. The research was recently selected as a Grand Award Winner by Popular Science as the 2005 "Best of What's New in Personal Health" category.

On May 21, 2001, Jesse Sullivan of Dayton, Tennessee, touched a live wire on the job as a power linesman. His electrical burns were so severe that they required both of his arms to be amputated at the shoulder. Because he had limited myoelectric control sites, Sullivan was fitted with a traditional artificial prosthesis for the right arm. But then RIC offered a "bionic" arm for his other lost limb.

Dr. Kuiken transplanted living nerves from Sullivan's left shoulder into his left pectoral (chest) muscle. Six months later, after the nerves had grown and spread into the muscle, Dr. Kuiken was able to detect myoelectric signals from them. RIC's prosthetics department then designed and built a "cuff" with electrodes that pick up and translate the signals to control the prosthesis. When Sullivan thinks about closing his hand, the nerve that once made the hand close now causes part of his chest muscle to contract. Sensors over that muscle then tell the hand to close via tiny connecting wires. An additional benefit of the nerve transfer surgery is that Sullivan can sense the weight of an object, allowing him to control the intensity of the grip.