Brain implant trials at North East health trust

Brain implants created by Elon Musk's Neuralink firm will be trialled in Newcastle, it has been announced.

- SAM VOLPE Health reporter

The firm has launched a new clinical trial and the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust has been named as one of two centres in the UK to be part of research looking at the use of such an implant - the “size of a 10p piece”- which allows people to control technology using their minds.

It's hoped the tech will benefit those with signifcant neurological impairment including conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND) where they have limited or no ability to use both hands. The implants are placed in the brain using a robot - and a trial is already ongoing in the US.

Now the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, which inlcudes the RVI, has been chosen along with the University College London Hospitals NHS Trust to run the first trials in the UK. The trial will evaluate the safety of what Neuralink called its “wireless brain-computer interface”. The implant itself is named the N1.