BCI Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

New sensor manufacturing method developed for deep brain activity

The electrodes are equipped with 128 sensors that can record extremely localized brain signals and 16 stimulation contacts that can deliver clinical grade stimulation currents and that can additionally record brain signals. [Image courtesy of UCSD]

Researchers at the University of California San Diego used a new manufacturing approach to build sensors capable of recording activity deep within the brain.

Such technology could bring wireless monitoring of patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy for extended periods of time (up to 30 days) as they go about their daily lives.

Researchers also see broader applications, potentially helping those with Parkinson’s disease, movement disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, obesity, treatment-resistant depression, high-impact chronic pain and other disorders.

These sensors can record activity from large populations of individual neurons, with a re…

New Synchron CTO Riki Banerjee on BCI manufacturing and outsourcing

Synchron Chief Technology Officer Riki Banerjee [Photo courtesy of Synchron]

After 12 years in Medtronic’s neuromodulation operating unit and two years as R&D VP at Synchron, Riki Banerjee is the brain-computer interface (BCI) developer’s new chief technology officer.

More electrodes and thinner electrodes were always goals at Medtronic. But neuro device makers across the industry have faced the difficulties of developing chronic implants for stimulation, as well as designing interconnects to bridge the implants with the rest of the physical system.

“I think we’re on a good path to be successful” at Synchron, Banerjee said in an interview with Medical Design & Outsourcing in 2023 before she was promoted to CTO.

Related: Synchron’s plan to beat Neuralink in the neuroprosthetic BCI race

Synchron’…

Opening the brain’s secret back door: A conversation with Synchron co-founder and CEO Dr. Tom Oxley

Dr. Tom Oxley, CEO and co-founder of breakthrough brain-computer interface developer Synchron, discusses advances in minimally invasive neurointervention, medtech leadership, advice for device developers, and ethics at the bleeding edge of BCI technology.

Synchron co-founder and CEO Dr. Tom Oxley giving a TED Talk with an image of the Stentrode device displayed behind him. [Photo courtesy of Synchron]

What seems like a miracle today — a paralyzed patient regaining the ability to communicate with their family without open-brain surgery — may eventually seem obvious in retrospect.

It already does to Dr. Tom Oxley, the interventional neurologist who’s CEO and co-founder of brain-computer interface (BCI) developer Synchron.

Synchron’s Stentrode device is implanted inside a blood vessel in the brain to sense neural signals and relay them to another implant in the chest. Those signals are then tran…

Synchron’s plan to beat Neuralink in the neuroprosthetic BCI race

Synchron Chief Commercial Officer Kurt Haggstrom [Photo courtesy of Synchron]

Competing brain-computer interface (BCI) developers Synchron and Neuralink both announced big news this month as they move their dueling neuroimplant technologies forward.

The device developers each have FDA investigational device exemption (IDE) for their experimental BCIs. They’ve also got billionaires backing their R&D and regulatory efforts, with Neuralink owned by Elon Musk and Synchron funded by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

This month, Synchron announced the completion of patient enrollment in its COMMAND clinical trial. Two weeks later, Neuralink announced the start of recruiting for its own clinical trial, the PRIME first-in-human study.

With BCI technology advancing as one of the hottest spaces in medtech innovation, Synchron Chief Commercial Officer Kurt Haggstrom discussed the competitive landscape and…

Tiny sensors implanted in the brain could interpret speech for people with ALS

Frank Willett operates software that translates Pat Bennett’s attempts at speech — recorded by sensors in her brain — into words on a screen. [Image courtesy of Steve Fisch/Stanford]

Researchers at Stanford used baby aspirin-sized sensors implanted in the brain to guide speech from a person’s mind to a computer.

The devices transmit signals from speech-related regions in the brain to state-of-the-art software. That software decodes brain activity and converts it to text displayed on a computer screen.

Pat Bennett, 68, received a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2012. The progressive neurodegenerative disease attacks neurons controlling movement, causing physical weakness and eventual paralysis. Bennett’s condition led to the loss of the ability to speak intelligibly as the condition’s deterioration began in the brain stem. However, she was able to use the sensor…

BCI company Science is getting into the outsourcing business

The Science Eye [Image from Science]

Brain-computer-interface (BCI) developer Science announced has launched a platform to enhance medical device manufacturing outsourcing.

Science CEO Max Hodak previously co-founded Neuralink, Elon Musk’s venture into brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). He served as president at Neuralink until 2021. His new venture with Science includes new BCI technology that doesn’t require an in-skull implant.

Last November, the company unveiled the Science Eye, a visual prosthesis. It targets retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), two forms of serious blindness. The combination device uses an optogenetic gene therapy targeted at the cells of the optic nerve. It combines that with an implanted, flexible thin-film, ultradense microLED display panel inserted directly over the retina.

Science was among the top medical device venture capital dealm…