In 2004, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester in England achieved a breakthrough when they isolated graphene for the first time. A flat form of carbon made up of a single layer of atoms, graphene is the smallest known material—and one of the most powerful. It was hailed as a breakthrough, earning Geim and Novoselov the Nobel Prize in physics in 2010.
After 20 years, graphene is finally making its way into batteries, sensors, semiconductors, air conditioners, and even headphones. And now, it’s being tested on people’s minds.
This morning, surgeons at the University of Manchester temporarily implanted a thin, Scotch-tape-like implant made of graphene into a patient’s cortex—the outermost layer of the brain. Developed by the Spanish company InBrain Neuroelectronics, the technology is a type of computer interface, a device that collects and analyzes brain signals. InBrain is among several companies, including Elon Musk’s Neuralink, developing BCIs.
“We aim to have a commercial product that can record the brain and map the brain and that can be used for different problems,” said Carolina Aguilar, CEO and founder of InBrain.
Brain mapping is a technique used to help plan brain surgery. For example, when removing a brain tumor, surgeons place electrodes in the brain to determine where the motor and speech are working in the brain so they can safely remove the tumor without affecting the patient’s ability to move or speak.
During today’s surgery, the implant was placed for 79 minutes. The patient was undergoing brain surgery to remove a tumor and consented to the study. At that time, the researchers realized that the InBrain device was able to distinguish between healthy and cancerous brain tissue with micrometer-scale precision.
The University of Manchester is the site of InBrain’s first-in-human trial, which will test the graphene device on up to 10 patients who have already undergone brain surgery for other reasons. The goal of the research, funded by the European Commission’s Graphene Flagship project, is to demonstrate the safety of graphene in direct contact with the human brain.
David Coope, the surgeon who performs the procedure, says the InBrain device is more flexible than a standard electrode, allowing it to better conform to the surface of the brain. “From a surgical point of view, it means we can probably put it in places where we would find it difficult to insert an electrode,” he said. The primary electrodes used for brain mapping are platinum iridium discs set in silicon. Coope says: “So they’re tough.
In contrast, the InBrain device is a transparent sheet that sits over the brain. Half the size of a human hair, it consists of 48 thin graphene electrodes measuring 25 micrometers each. The company is developing a second type of implant that penetrates brain tissue and can deliver precise electrical stimulation.
The surface device alone can be used to map the brain, but Aguilar says the company is also combining the two devices and plans to eventually test them together as a treatment for neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease.
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