brain-computer interfaces Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Implant prototype collects deep neural activity from the brain’s surface

When placed on the surface of the brain, this thin, flexible implant enables researchers to capture high-resolution information about neural activity deep inside the brain without damaging its delicate tissue. [Image courtesy of David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering]

Researchers at UCSD say they developed a neural implant that can gather information about activity deep inside the brain while sitting on its surface.

The UCSD team used a thin, transparent and flexible polymer strip packed with a dense array of graphene electrodes. They tested the technology in transgenic mice and say it brings them a step closer to building a minimally invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that provides high-resolution deep neural activity data by using recordings from the brain surface.

“We are expanding the spatial reach of neural recordings with this technology,” said study senior author Duygu Kuzum,…

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…

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…

Brain-spine ‘digital bridge’ allows spinal cord injury patient to walk — and enjoy a beer

“This simple pleasure represents a significant change in my life,” Gert-Jan Oksam said of his regained ability to stand at a bar with friends thanks to an experimental “digital bridge” between his brain and spine. [Photo courtesy of NeuroRestore]

A wireless “digital bridge” between a paralyzed patient’s brain and spinal cord has allowed him to walk naturally, researchers say.

The experimental technology uses electronic implants on the brain and spinal cord to relay leg movement control signals, allowing 40-year-old Gert-Jan Oksam to walk again 12 years after a bicycle accident.

Neuroscientists and neurosurgeons from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL) published their research in Nature last week.

“We have implanted Wimagine devices above the region of the brain that is…

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…

Pushing the boundaries of brain-computer interface software

[Image from Milad Fakurian on Unsplash]

Neuroscientist Sumner Norman and AE Studio develop open-source and free tools for the brain-computer interface (BCI) space.

BCI technology has become one of the hottest areas of medtech. Companies are developing a multitude of methods with their own systems that would allow patients to control a computer with their brain. Such technology could enable immobile people to control a mouse cursor, keyboard, mobile device/tablet, wheelchair or prosthetic device by only thinking.

“My goal is to give abilities back to those that have lost them, and eventually, to improve how all of us interact with technology and each other — the ultimate human-machine interface,” Norman told Medical Design & Outsourcing. “And what’s more human than our brain, the organ that contains our every memory, thought and intention?”

Blackrock Neurotech and Pitt work on first at-home BCI system for remote trials

Blackrock Neurotech’s Utah array is used in its brain-computer interface implant to sense brain signals [Photo courtesy of Blackrock]

Blackrock Neurotech and the University of Pittsburgh’s Rehab Neural Engineering Labs (Pitt RNEL) are working together on the first portable brain-computer interface (BCI) to allow patients to participate in research trials from home.

A Blackrock representative said it’s the final step as the company prepares to launch its first commercial product early next year.

Salt Lake City-based Blackrock plans to submit its first commercial BCI device, called MoveAgain, to the FDA this year.

Blackrock wants its BCI platform to be the first one that’s commercially available to people with paralysis. Its implant has been used in patients since 2004 through research studies, with zero FDA-reported serious adverse events since then.

“Through this expansion…

Synchron’s neuroscience director explains the brain implant technology and potential applications

The Synchron brain-computer interface system relays signals from the brain to a device in the chest, then translates the signals into action on a computer. [Image courtesy of Synchron]

Officials at Synchron, the developer of the catheter-delivered Stentrode brain-computer interface (BCI) implant, believe they’re the only BCI company tapping into blood vessels to capture signals from the brain.

They say they’ve already enabled a small group of paralyzed ALS patients to control a computer with their minds, and hope there will be more applications of their technology.

Shortly after the New York-based company released new results of a safety study for its implant, Synchron Director of Neuroscience Peter Yoo spoke with Medical Design & Outsourcing about the Stentrode implant and how catheter delivery could make BCI technology simpler, safer and more accessible than the leading alternative: ope…