Cornell, NTU researchers develop neural implant smaller than grain of salt

Neural implants, used to monitor brain activity, often require wired connections or bulky hardware to perform their function.

- Zhaki Abdullah Correspondent

The microscale optoelectronic tetherless electrode shows that the use of light allows implants to be made at an extremely small scale, reducing the risk of damage to the brain. PHOTO: LEE SUNWOO AND ZHENG YUMIN

(LEE SUNWOO AND ZHENG YUMIN)

A new implant, however, has been developed to operate wirelessly, and measures just about 300 microns long and 70 microns wide - smaller than a grain of salt.

Dubbed the microscale optoelectronic tetherless electrode, this implant successfully transmitted brain activity data wirelessly from a living animal for over a year.

In the development led by researchers from Cornell University in New York and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the electrode is powered by red and infrared laser beams which can pass harmlessly through brain tissue.

The brain’s electrical signals are encoded within tiny pulses of infrared light, which transmit data back to a receiver.