The Next Brain Implant is a Real Live Wire

Photo credit: proto.life

“Living electrodes could deliver safer and better ways to fix injuries and disease and grow new links between humans and machines,” writes science journalist Emily Mullin for proto.life.

“Simple electrical implants have been used since the 1980s for deep brain stimulation (DBS), in which wire electrodes penetrating the brain deliver pulses of an electrical current to ease the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other neurological problems. Finding ways to tap into the brain in less invasive ways is now in focus and this is exactly what motivates Kacy Cullen, an associate professor in neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania.”

“Kacy is making electrodes out of living tissue instead of wire… tiny, three-dimensional threads of brain cells that he calls “living electrodes.” Grown from stem cells and then packed into biodegradable gel tubes, natural electrodes could be gentler in the brain, merging and connecting with living tissue.”

Read the full article here.