A brain implant is set to revolutionise neurological treatments, offering surgeons a minimally invasive way to manage seizures and restore motor, speech, and visual functions.
Its compact design and high-speed data transfer promise a new era in neural interface technology.
Developed by researchers at Columbia University, New York-Presbyterian, Stanford University, and the University of Pennsylvania, this brain-computer interface (BCI) relies on a single silicon chip to establish a wireless, high-bandwidth connection between the brain and any external computer. The platform is called the Biological Interface System to Cortex (BISC).
In a study published in Nature Electronics, the authors revealed that BISC includes a single-chip implant, a wearable ‘relay station’ and the custom software required to operate the system.
Ken Shepard, Lau Family Professor of Electrical Engineering, professor of biomedical engineering, and professor of neurological sciences at Columbia University, is one of the senior authors on the work and guided the engineering efforts.
He said: ‘Most implantable systems are built around a canister of electronics that occupies enormous volumes of space inside the body. Our implant is a single integrated circuit chip that is so thin that it can slide into the space between the brain and the skull, resting on the brain like a piece of wet tissue paper.’
Shepard was joined in the BISC effort by senior and co-corresponding author Andreas S. Tolias, PhD, professor at the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University and co-founding director of the Enigma Project.
Tolias’s pioneering work training AI models on large-scale neural datasets – including those recorded in the Tolias laboratory using BISC – enabled the team to evaluate the device’s neural decoding performance.
Tolias said: ‘BISC turns the cortical surface into an effective portal, delivering high-bandwidth, minimally invasive read–write communication with AI and external devices. Its single-chip scalability paves the way for adaptive neuroprosthetics and brain-AI interfaces to treat many neuropsychiatric disorders, such as epilepsy.’
Dr Brett Youngerman, assistant professor of neurological surgery at Columbia University and a neurosurgeon at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Centre, served as the project’s chief clinical collaborator.
He said: ‘This high-resolution, high-data-throughput device has the potential to revolutionise the management of neurological conditions from epilepsy to paralysis.’
