Latest news with #neurotechnology
WIRED
21-07-2025
- Health
- WIRED
There's Neuralink—and There's the Mind-Reading Company That Might Surpass It
Jul 21, 2025 6:00 AM Unlike Elon Musk's brain-computer interface, Synchron's doesn't require open-skull surgery, and it has an OpenAI chatbot baked in. PHOTOGRAPH: STEPHANIE STRASBURG Mark Jackson is playing a computer game with his mind. As he reclines in bed, three blue circles appear on a laptop screen a few feet away. One turns red: the target. Jackson is in control of a white circle, which he needs to steer into the target without running into the blue obstacles. The game is a bit like Pac-Man . Except instead of a joystick, Jackson uses his thoughts to control his little white circle. To move left, he thinks about clenching his right fist once. To move right, he thinks about doing it twice in a row, like a double click. Jackson, who is 65 and paralyzed, is good at this game. He steers into the red circle. It turns blue and makes a satisfying ding! He has hit the target. In the next round, the circles change position. He moves to the next round, and the next, and is successful 14 out of 15 times. He's gotten 100 percent at this game before. Then again, he's had some practice. A couple years ago, surgeons in Pittsburgh implanted Jackson with an experimental brain-computer interface, or BCI. Made by New York–based startup Synchron, it decodes Jackson's brain signals to carry out commands on the laptop and other devices. He's one of 10 people—six in the US and four in Australia—who have received the Synchron implant as part of an early feasibility study. In addition to gaming, the BCI allows him to send text messages, write emails, and shop online. Jackson's medical saga began about five years ago, when he was living in Georgia and working for a wholesale floral company—his dream job. He thought he had pinched a nerve in his neck. But in January 2021, doctors at Emory University told him the diagnosis was far more serious: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A neurodegenerative disease, ALS causes nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to break down over time, resulting in a gradual loss of muscle control. Jackson's doctor asked if he was interested in joining a clinical trial testing an ALS drug. Jackson said it was a no-brainer. Jackson in his first-floor bedroom. PHOTOGRAPH: STEPHANIE STRASBURG Before his ALS diagnosis, Jackson had taken up woodworking. PHOTOGRAPH: STEPHANIE STRASBURG But by December 2022, he had lost the ability to type or lift buckets of flowers at his job and had to stop working. He moved in with his brother just outside Pittsburgh. 'The loss of mobility, the loss of independence that goes with this disease,' Jackson says, 'it's a lot to take in, it's a lot to process.' He tried to stay positive even as his disease progressed. When the drug trial ended in summer 2023, he was eager to join another study that had a chance of helping his ALS. Synchron's BCI trial was just getting underway at the University of Pittsburgh. While the implant wouldn't slow the progression of Jackson's ALS, it could give him back some of the autonomy he'd lost to the disease. 'I was immediately excited about it,' Jackson says. He started the vetting process in July 2023, and six weeks later Jackson was in the operating room. In a roughly three-hour-long procedure, surgeons first inserted the Stentrode, a wire-mesh tube about the size of a matchstick, into his jugular vein at the base of his neck. Using a catheter, they carefully threaded the device up through the vessel, past the ear, and into the side of the head to rest against the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls voluntary movement. Then they inserted a small rectangular device below Jackson's collarbone, which processes the brain signals and beams them via infrared outside the body. Those signals are collected by a paddle-shaped receiver that sits on Jackson's chest, then sent via a wire to a unit that translates them into commands. When the system is hooked up, a pair of green lights shines through his shirt. After the surgery, making that initial connection took months. Jackson's chest was swollen from the procedure, which interfered with the signal quality. Plus, the external unit can only be so far away from the internal one. It took so much trial and error that Jackson worried it would never work. 'There was a lot of anticipation,' he says. When the units finally connected in October 2023, Jackson felt a huge release of tension. When a person is outfitted with a BCI, they're asked to think about doing specific actions, such as opening and closing their fist, so that the system learns to associate that pattern of brain activity with that specific action. It does this by using AI-powered software to decode and interpret those neural signals. Even though Jackson is paralyzed and can't actually move his hand, the neurons associated with that movement still fire when he attempts to make a fist. It's that movement intention that BCIs are designed to read. If Synchron's process sounds like a lot to undergo, consider that other brain implants involve, well, brain surgery. Synchron's main competitor, Elon Musk's Neuralink, removes a piece of skull and replaces it with a coin-sized device that hooks directly into the brain tissue via 64 robotically positioned wire threads. Musk's company has implanted seven volunteers with its device so far. Some have even been discharged from the hospital the day after their procedure. While invasive implants like Neuralink's carry the risk of brain tissue damage and bleeding, blood clots and stroke are the main concerns with Synchron's device. Any kind of implanted device carries the risk of infection. Synchron's approach has allowed it to pull ahead in the race to commercialize brain implants. While it has raised just $145 million to date to Neuralink's $1.3 billion, it has attracted funding from big names like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. Musk himself reportedly considered investing when development at Neuralink was stalled. And the company keeps expanding the functionalities of its BCI, making it compatible with a range of existing consumer technologies. Last year, Synchron rolled out a generative chat feature powered by OpenAI to assist users with communication. It also connected its device to the Apple Vision Pro, which Jackson now uses regularly for entertainment. Then came an integration with Amazon Alexa, allowing Stentrode recipients to use the virtual assistant with just their thoughts. And earlier this year, Synchron and Apple introduced a Bluetooth protocol for BCIs, so that when Synchron's system is switched on, it can automatically detect and connect to an iPhone, iPad, or Vision Pro. Synchron is now gearing up for a larger pivotal trial needed for commercialization. Synchron's Stentrode device is threaded through the jugular vein into the brain. Adobe After Effects While Musk envisions a transhumanist fusion of mind and machine, Synchron is focused on meeting the immediate needs of people like Jackson who have severe disabilities. If Synchron can get buy-in from insurers and regulators, it could usher in a new era of brain devices that restore communication and movement, treat neurological disorders and mental illness, and detect and monitor brain states and diseases. And though it's not Synchron's goal, its minimally invasive technology could eventually lead to safe, unobtrusive devices that might one day allow anyone to play a video game or surf the web with their thoughts alone. Tom Oxley, Synchron's cofounder and CEO, didn't exactly set out to start a mind-reading company. After finishing medical school in 2005 at Monash University in Australia, he knew he wanted to specialize in the brain, either neurology or psychiatry—and to do that, he needed to train in internal medicine first. As part of that training, Oxley spent three months in a palliative care clinic for people with ALS. 'It was extremely intense,' he says. Later, while doing a clinical rotation in the rural region of Mildura, he befriended Rahul Sharma, who was training to be a cardiologist. Sharma would cook Indian food, and they would have long, philosophical conversations about the future of medicine. Sharma told Oxley about the shift from open-heart surgery to minimally invasive techniques that use catheters inserted into blood vessels. Oxley thought, 'What if those techniques made their way over to the brain?' After all, the brain has a vast network of blood vessels. Soon, the two were talking about the possibility of putting stents in the brain to deliver medications, says Sharma, Synchron's cofounder and medical director. Then, in 2008, Oxley came across a landmark paper in the scientific journal Nature from 2006 describing how two paralyzed patients with a brain implant successfully controlled a computer with their thoughts. One of them was also able to move a robotic arm. To achieve the groundbreaking results, a team from Brown University and Massachusetts General Hospital used a device called the Utah array, a 4- by 4-mm grid with 100 tiny metal spikes. The Utah array penetrates the brain tissue, and electrodes on the spike tips record the firings of individual neurons. Placing the array involves a craniotomy, in which a piece of the skull is temporarily removed. The first person to receive the implant, Matthew Nagle, was able to move a cursor, read emails, play Pong , and draw a circle on a screen. 'At that moment, I got excited about BCI,' Oxley says. While any BCI comes with risks, Jackson says the technology enables him to do more than he ever thought possible. PHOTOGRAPH: STEPHANIE STRASBURG He and Sharma started thinking about putting electrodes on stents to record from the brain. The idea behind the Stentrode started to take shape. After completing his internal medicine fellowship in 2009, Oxley cold-called the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which was doing research on BCIs. A Darpa program manager thought his invention could be a way for soldiers who had lost limbs to control robotic arms, and invited Oxley to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to pitch his idea. Darpa ended up funding Oxley and Sharma's half-baked concept to the tune of $1 million, and two years later they formed a company, SmartStent, which eventually became Synchron. The startup received an additional grant of $5 million from the Australian government and, later, another $4 million from Darpa and the Office of Naval Research. They recruited biomedical engineer Nicholas Opie, who was working on a bionic eye at the time, to design the Stentrode, and by 2012, the company had started implanting the device in sheep. In 2019, the first human subject received the Stentrode in an early feasibility study in Australia. (Neuralink's first human surgery was in January 2024.) Vinod Khosla, whose venture firm has invested in Synchron, thinks the Stentrode could be scaled up more quickly than other BCIs in development that require invasive brain surgery. Those devices would also need specially trained neurosurgeons—or in Neuralink's case, surgical robots. There are far more cardiologists who are trained to implant stents, Khosla says. But Synchron's approach comes with trade-offs. From inside the blood vessel, its device uses 16 electrodes dotted on the stent's surface to capture brain activity. Because it sits farther away from individual neurons than the Utah array and Neuralink device do, it picks up a weaker signal. BCI researchers call this the 'stadium effect.' If you're sitting inside a stadium, you can hear the conversations going on around you. If you're sitting outside the stadium, you would hear the roar of a crowd and might be able to discern when a goal has been scored. 'The question is, how much do you need this to hear to do something useful for the subject?' says Kip Ludwig, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and codirector of the Wisconsin Institute for Translational Neuroengineering, who isn't involved with Synchron. Neuralink's implant has more than 1,000 electrodes dispersed across 64 flexible wire threads. More electrodes means more information can be extracted from the brain, but more may not necessarily be better, especially for executing relatively simple tasks such as moving a cursor on a computer screen. 'The minimal viable product is the ability to navigate and select on an iPhone,' Oxley says. 'That's what we think is going to be the basic use case.' Beyond that, Oxley sees huge potential in using small blood vessels as roads to access new parts of the brain. 'We believe that opens up 10 times more brain coverage,' he says. More Stentrodes across the brain could allow for more natural control and more complex functions. Synchron's next-generation BCI will not require patients to be physically tethered to the system. As Synchron moves toward a pivotal trial in 2026, which will enroll between 30 and 50 subjects, it will face some key questions about its technology—namely, what are the benefits and how can those benefits be measured? 'These technologies are so new, and they're providing the opportunity to restore functions that no other device or approach is yet able to restore,' says Leigh Hochberg, a BCI researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brown University, and an author on the 2006 paper that inspired Oxley. There are no 'validated outcome measures that can be easily applied,' he says. For Synchron's implant to win approval in the US, the Food and Drug Administration will want to see that the benefits outweigh any risks that come with the device. And if it is approved, to what extent will insurers cover the cost for patients? Unlike other drugs and medical devices, BCIs don't treat an underlying condition. They're more akin to assistive devices. As the field matures and more startups work toward commercialization, companies and regulators are trying to come up with those measures. There are already assessment tools to evaluate a person's functional abilities or quality of life, for example, that could be applied to BCIs. When I talk to Jackson about this idea, he has no doubt that BCIs will have a positive effect on people's health and well-being—eventually. 'I can see down the road where this would give someone their independence,' he says. For now, though, the setup isn't exactly practical. 'I have to be physically connected with an exterior wire. So the only time that I am using the device itself is when I'm hooked up,' he says. That happens twice a week when he is visited by Synchron's field clinical engineer, Maria Nardozzi, for training sessions. In Synchron's second-generation design, which will be tested in the pivotal trial, the internal and external units will connect wirelessly so that subjects won't have to be tethered to the system. Despite having a BCI, Jackson still relies on voice assist for most of his needs. 'If I'm being honest, that's the easier route,' he says. But there are times when it fails, or an app might not have a voice assist option. For instance, when he tried to use the payment app Venmo, there wasn't a way to use voice assist to indicate a reason for the payment, a required field. 'The voice assist technology is nowhere near where it needs to be,' Sharma says. Anyone who has used Alexa or Siri knows there are accuracy issues and lag time between a request and the device's response. If BCIs can carry out tasks more naturally than voice assist, Sharma thinks that could tip the scales for users. BCIs also provide more privacy. 'If there are other people in your environment, you may not wish to be sharing what it is you are trying to do or express out loud,' he says. And of course for some patients with paralysis who have lost the use of their voice, a BCI may be their only means of communicating and interacting with the world around them. Jackson and Maria Nardozzi, Synchron's field clinical engineer, during a recent BCI training session. PHOTOGRAPH: STEPHANIE STRASBURG Jackson realizes he's a bit of a guinea pig. He knows that Synchron's technology will get better, faster, and more seamless over time. He enjoys trying out new apps with his BCI and says his favorite thing to do with it is use the Apple Vision Pro. He can't travel anymore, but the headset can transport him to the Swiss Alps or a temperate rainforest in New Zealand. But there are still things beyond the digital world he wishes he could do that the BCI can't help with yet—painting, for instance, and wood carving. Above his bed hangs a picture of two yellow fruit warblers. He painted it himself when he was 20 years old. His mother kept it and had it framed. He was looking forward to doing more oil painting in his retirement. Jackson knows, of course, that the nature of ALS is that his condition will inevitably get worse. He could eventually lose his speech and what voluntary movement he has left. He may develop cognitive impairment and not be able to control his BCI anymore; the life expectancy for someone with ALS is two to five years after diagnosis. Of the 10 people who have been outfitted with Synchron's BCI, only Jackson and another participant are still using it. The others stopped either because of how their ALS progressed or because they died. Before his ALS diagnosis, Jackson had started woodworking. He wanted to learn how to carve birds. A wood carving of a cardinal he bought sits on his nightstand as a reminder of the hobby he'll never return to because of his ALS. 'If there could be a way for robotic arm devices or leg devices to be incorporated down the road,' he says, 'that would be freaking amazing.' Neuralink is testing that capability, but current robotic arms are far from being lifelike. They can perform simple tasks executed in jerky movements. It could be decades before BCIs give people the ability to do something as complicated as carving wood. For now, Jackson is able to use the BCI to explore art museum apps, but he'd like to find a way to create digital art with his thoughts. And while the setup is still limited in a lot of ways, it enables Jackson to do more than he ever thought possible. He is, after all, able to move objects on a screen without using his hands, his feet, his eyes, his shoulders, his face, or even his voice. 'There's a reason why this is pretty groundbreaking technology,' he says. Let us know what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor at mail@
CBS News
16-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
States pass privacy laws to protect brain data collected by devices
More states are passing laws to protect information generated by a person's brain and nervous system as technology improves the ability to unlock the sensitive details of a person's health, mental states, emotions, and cognitive functioning. Colorado, California, and Montana are among the states that have recently required safeguarding brain data collected by devices outside of medical settings. That includes headphones, earbuds, and other wearable consumer products that aim to improve sleep, focus, and aging by measuring electrical activity and sending the data to an app on users' phones. A report by the Neurorights Foundation, an advocacy group that aims to protect people from the misuse of neurotechnology, found that 29 of 30 companies with neurotechnology products that can be purchased online have access to brain data and "provide no meaningful limitations to this access." Almost all of them can share data with third parties. In June, the American Medical Association called for greater regulation of neural data. In April, several Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether companies are exploiting consumers' brain data. Juliana Gruenwald Henderson, a deputy director of the FTC's Office of Public Affairs, said the agency had received the letter but had no additional comment. Although current devices gather relatively basic information like sleep states, advocates for brain data protection caution that future technologies, including artificial intelligence, could extract more personal and sensitive information about people's medical conditions or innermost thoughts. "If you collect the data today, what can you read from it five years from now, because the technology is advancing so quickly?" said Democratic state Sen. Cathy Kipp, who sponsored Colorado's 2024 neural data protection bill when she was in the state House of Representatives. As both excitement and trepidation about AI build, at least 28 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands have enacted some type of AI regulation separate from the privacy bills protecting neural data. President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" included a 10-year halt on states passing laws to regulate AI, but the Senate stripped that provision out of the budget reconciliation bill before voting to approve it on July 1. The spirit of laws in Colorado, California, and Montana is to protect the neural data itself, not to regulate any algorithm or AI that might use it, said Sean Pauzauskie, medical director for the Neurorights Foundation. But neurotechnology and AI go hand in hand, Pauzauskie said. "A lot of what these devices promise is based on pattern recognition. AI is really driving the usability and significance of the patterns in the brain data." Cristin Welle, a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said that AI's ability to identify patterns is a game changer in her field. "But contribution of a person's neural data on an AI training set should be voluntary. It should be an opt-in, not a given." Chile in 2021 became the first country to adopt a constitutional amendment for neurorights, which prioritize human rights in the development of neurotechnology and collection of neural data, and UNESCO has said that neurotechnology and artificial intelligence could together pose a threat to human identity and autonomy. Neurotechnology can sound like science fiction. Researchers used a cap with 128 electrodes and an AI model to decode the brain's electric signals from thoughts into speech. And two years ago, a study described how neuroscientists reconstructed the Pink Floyd song "Another Brick in the Wall" by analyzing the brain signals of 29 epilepsy patients who listened to the song with electrodes implanted in their brains. The aim is to use neurotechnology to help those with paralysis or speech disabilities, as well as treat or diagnose traumatic brain injuries and brain disorders such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Elon Musk's Neuralink and Synchron, funded by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, are among the companies with clinical trials underway for devices implanted in the brain. Pauzauskie, a hospital neurologist, started worrying four years ago about the blurring of the line between clinical and consumer use of neural data. He noted that the devices used by his epilepsy patients were also available for purchase online, but without protections afforded by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in medical settings. Pauzauskie approached Kipp two years ago at a constituent meetup in his hometown of Fort Collins to propose a law to protect brain data in Colorado. "The first words out of her mouth that I'll never forget were, 'Who would be against people owning their own brain data?'" he said. Brain data protection is one of the rare issues that unite lawmakers across the political aisle. The bills in California, Montana, and Colorado passed unanimously or nearly unanimously. Montana's law will go into effect in October. Neural data protection laws in Colorado and California amend each state's general consumer privacy act, while Montana's law adds to its existing genetic information privacy act. Colorado and Montana require initial express consent to collect or use neural data and separate consent or the ability to opt out before disclosing that data to a third party. A business must provide a way for consumers to delete their data when operating in all three states. "I want a very hard line in the sand that says, you own this completely," said Montana state Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, who sponsored his state's neural data bill and other privacy laws. "You have to give consent. You have the right to have it deleted. You have complete rights over this information." For Zolnikov, Montana's bill is a blueprint for a national neural data protection law, and Pauzauskie said support of regulatory efforts by groups like the AMA pave the way for further federal and state efforts. Welle agreed that federal regulations are needed in addition to these new state laws. "I absolutely hope that we can come up with something on a national level that can enshrine people's neural rights into law because I think this is going to be more important than we can even imagine at this time." KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
Associated Press
07-07-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
PathMaker Neurosystems Announces Publication of First Study Demonstrating Increased Survival in an ALS Mouse Model After Treatment With Non-Invasive Neuromodulation
Boston, MA and Providence, RI, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PathMaker Neurosystems Inc. ('PathMaker'), a clinical-stage neurotechnology company developing a breakthrough non-invasive approach for treating Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease), today announced the publication of groundbreaking research in Frontiers in Neurology demonstrating that its proprietary multi-site direct current stimulation (Multi-Site DCS) technology significantly extended survival time and reduced motor neuron degeneration in the widely used SOD1-G93A mouse model of ALS. This important study marks the first demonstration of any non-invasive neuromodulation technique delivering statistically significant survival benefits in an ALS mouse model. The results are compelling, with treated mice exhibiting a 74% increase in survival time from disease onset compared to untreated counterparts. The published paper, ' Multi-path direct current spinal stimulation extended survival in the SOD1-G93A model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,' has as senior author, Dr. Zaghloul Ahmed, Professor and Chairman, Department of Physical Therapy and Professor, Center for Developmental Neuroscience, CUNY and Scientific Founder of PathMaker Neurosystems. Beyond extending survival and mitigating motor neuron degeneration, this NIH-funded research highlights that Multi-Site DCS treatment also reduced spinal excitability, decelerated motor dysfunction progression, activated protein degradation pathways and lowered SOD1 protein levels in motor neurons. 'These results provide compelling evidence that our non-invasive treatment approach can meaningfully impact disease progression,' said Nader Yaghoubi, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PathMaker Neurosystems. 'The mechanistic insights from this paper underscore the potential of non-invasive Multi-Site DCS as a transformative disease-modifying intervention for ALS. Our ongoing efforts are directed towards translating this innovative treatment into clinical development, with the CALM trial, Controlling Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Motor Neuron Excitability, our second ALS clinical trial, now in progress ( NCT06649955 ). This trial, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense ALSRP program, represents a significant advancement in our journey to bring this novel modality to clinical use. About PathMaker Neurosystems Inc. PathMaker Neurosystems is a clinical-stage neuromodulation company developing a breakthrough non-invasive approach to the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). More than 34,000 people in the U.S. and 350,000 people worldwide are estimated to suffer from ALS. PathMaker is collaborating with world-class institutions to develop and bring to market first-in-class products for treating ALS and other neurological disorders with very high unmet medical need. The MyoRegulator® platform is based on PathMaker's proprietary technology for multi-site direct current stimulation (Multi-Site DCS). MyoRegulator® has been previously designated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a 'FDA Breakthrough Device.' MyoRegulator® and MyoRegulator® ALS are investigational medical devices and are limited by Federal law to investigational use only. For more information, please visit the company website at Source: PathMaker Neurosystems Inc. Media contact: PathMaker PR (617) 535-7696 [email protected]
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Chinese researchers test neural implant that lets amputee to move cursor with mind
China's state-owned broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday that the country has become second only in the world to start human trials of its advanced invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. The trial involves a 37-year-old man who lost all four limbs in a high-voltage electrical accident over ten years ago. In March, researchers implanted a coin-sized device and electrodes into his brain. Within weeks, the subject was able to control a cursor on a screen, allowing him to play chess, use a computer, and even game with near-normal skill, according to the CCTV report. Starting this year, the team will launch small-scale trials involving patients with paralysis or ALS, with plans to expand to as many as 40 participants by 2026. The effort is being led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' (CAS) Centre for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, alongside Huashan Hospital at Fudan University in Shanghai and several industry partners, the South China Morning Post detailed. The deep brain stimulation electrode implanted in the patient is the smallest and most flexible of its kind in the world, Chinese media added. Created by the CAS research center, the electrode measures roughly 1/100th the width of a human hair and about one-fifth the thickness of Neuralink's electrodes, explained Zhao Zhengtao, a professor at the academy. Zhao also noted in a statement released by the CAS that the electrode's exceptional flexibility enables it to bend with the subtle movements of neurons sliding past one another. The design caused minimal disruption to surrounding tissue, with the patient's neurons barely affected by the implantation. Each electrode tip contains 32 sensors that capture brain signals, enabling long-term coexistence with brain tissue without triggering immune rejection. Before reaching human trials, the technology underwent extensive testing on mice and macaques to evaluate its safety, flexibility, and effectiveness. The implant measures 26mm (1 inch) in diameter and is 6mm thick. The implantation procedure took less than 30 minutes to complete. Surgeons thinned a coin-sized section of the skull above the motor cortex, creating a 5mm opening to insert the electrode. Before the operation, the surgical team used advanced scans to create a detailed 3D map of the patient's brain, allowing for precise planning. During the surgery, real-time navigation technology guided the team to place the electrode with millimeter-level accuracy, ensuring optimal positioning. In the coming months, the team will work closely with the patient to train him in controlling robotic arms, enabling him to perform practical tasks such as grasping and manipulating objects in everyday life. Future phases of the trial may involve more advanced tasks, such as steering complex devices like robotic dogs and embodied AI agents. Beyond its current use, the report emphasized that this technology holds promise for a range of medical applications and offers new treatment options for debilitating neurological disorders such as stroke, ALS, and Alzheimer's disease.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Billionaire Reid Hoffman Bets $12M On This AI Brain Scanner To Rival Neuralink — Without Surgery Or Drugs
Sanmai Technologies, a stealthy neurotechnology startup, has raised $12 million in a Series A round led by LinkedIn co‑founder Reid Hoffman, who will also join its board of directors, Bloomberg reports. Sanmai is developing a non‑invasive, AI‑guided focused ultrasound headset to treat mental health disorders and improve cognitive function. The device is designed to sell for under $500, making clinic‑grade brain stimulation accessible at home. According to Bloomberg, this funding aligns with growing interest from billionaire investors in cutting‑edge brain science, such as Coinbase co‑founder Fred Ehrsam's Nudge and Elon Musk's Neuralink. Don't Miss: Invest early in CancerVax's breakthrough tech aiming to disrupt a $231B market. GoSun's Breakthrough Rooftop EV Charger Already Has 2,000+ Units Reserved — Sanmai's headset uses low-intensity transcranial-focused ultrasound to target specific brain regions associated with conditions such as anxiety, depression, pain, epilepsy, and tremors, Bloomberg says. According to a LinkedIn post by neurotechnology research scientist and first employee at Sanmai Sharena Rice, an integrated AI companion guides treatment and helps determine which protocols are most effective, adapting the stimulation to each user's skull structure and brain activity. The system compensates for skull variations and dynamically adjusts ultrasound parameters to maximize efficacy and safety. Rice confirmed in the LinkedIn post that combining AI with focused ultrasound enables precise deep‑brain stimulation without surgery. Sanmai has developed an early clinical prototype of its device for generalized anxiety disorder. Bloomberg says that the company is also in discussions with the Food and Drug Administration as it prepares for formal clinical trials and regulatory review. Sanmai aims to validate its technology in clinical settings before expanding toward broader consumer availability. "I thought it was very cool that it gives you a new instrument for dealing with a whole wide variety of brain things which are otherwise very difficult to deal with," Hoffman told Bloomberg. "Your toolset for dealing with things that are going wrong in the brain is very limited." Trending: Named a TIME Best Invention and Backed by 5,000+ Users, Kara's Air-to-Water Pod Cuts Plastic and Costs — Sanmai's low-intensity focused ultrasound system is designed to deliver energy through the skull, reaching precise areas of brain tissue without breaking the skin. According to Bloomberg, the technology, which stimulates neural activity by directing sound waves to specific targets, reflects more than ten years of academic research now transitioning into regulated clinical testing. Sanmai founder Jay Sanguinetti began exploring brain stimulation as a graduate student, observing its effects on Parkinson's patients during invasive procedures. That experience laid the foundation for his pursuit of a safer, scalable alternative. "I saw every patient's life changed," he told Bloomberg. "But I got kind of bit by the bug of like, 'How do you do this but non-invasively and at scale?'" The company's eight-person team, operating largely in stealth until now, is preparing for broader trials after initial testing began at a Sunnyvale, California clinic for patients with generalized anxiety disorder. While Sanmai's goal is to create a home-use device priced below $500, Bloomberg says that the path forward requires individualized calibration, including magnetic resonance imaging scans and real-time adjustments to ultrasound dosage, before moving beyond clinical settings. "The way to do this safely and at scale is to first go through the clinics," Sanguinetti told Bloomberg. "Then leverage that data to go out to the consumer."Hoffman's investment in Sanmai comes at a time when private funding is playing an increasingly critical role in neuroscience innovation. With the U.S. government reducing its support for biomedical research, wealthy individuals like Hoffman are stepping in to advance technologies aimed at treating mental health disorders and neurological conditions, Bloomberg reports. At a recent neuromodulation conference near Washington, dozens of scientists and clinicians voiced concern over federal funding cuts, including proposed reductions to the National Institutes of Health and the departure of more than 143 staffers from its neurological division. In this tightening environment, Bloomberg says that investors like Hoffman, who previously backed OpenAI, are becoming central to the development of next-generation brain technologies. "Non-invasive is a much less risky approach for a significant benefit," Hoffman told Bloomberg. "The risk and difficulties in invasive strike me as very difficult to navigate and will take years, decades maybe." Read Next: Here's what Americans think you need to be considered wealthy. Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Billionaire Reid Hoffman Bets $12M On This AI Brain Scanner To Rival Neuralink — Without Surgery Or Drugs originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
