Synchron, a brain-computer interface company, beat Musk for human experiments.

Synchron, a brain-computer interface company, beat Musk for human experiments.

Synchron, a brain-computer interface company, beat Musk for human trials. Synchron, a brain-computer interface company, announced that it would start the first human clinical trial called "Command" research in the United States, and Synchron, a brain-computer interface company, beat Musk for human trials.

Brain-computer interface company Synchron beat Musk for human trials 1. Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink has always been an enthusiastic advocate of human clinical trials. Since 2020, the technology tycoon and the world's richest man have mentioned the news that the company will conduct human trials more than once. However, the reality is that the dreams of Neuralink and Musk are still far away. One of their competitors, Synchron, recently started a human clinical trial called "COMMAND".

Yesterday, Synchron announced that it had recruited the first volunteer for the "Command" project, and the experiment will be conducted at Mount Sinai Hospital in new york. Although the company did not elaborate on the situation of volunteers, the "command" experiment was set up for patients with severe paralysis. Based on this, it seems that the volunteer's situation is not difficult to guess.

In July last year, Synchron obtained the regulatory approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and became the only company in the world to obtain the "clinical trial license for permanent implantation of BCI"–this is also the honor that Musk dreamed of.

Judging from the published news, the research direction of Synchron is also the implantable brain-computer interface, but unlike Musk's Neuralink, Synchron's scheme "Stentrode" does not need to punch holes in the skull, but implants electrodes into the brain through venous blood vessels. After the electrode enters the brain from jugular vein, it will fuse with the vascular wall of the brain after 14 days of cell growth.

Generally speaking, the brain-computer interface of Synchron is more like a mature heart stent scheme.

With the help of the system, the current generated by the patient's brain will be led out from the electrodes in the chest through wires and then connected to the signal processing equipment. In this step, the BrainOS operating system independently developed by Synchron will decode the signal read by the sensor and then convert it into a universal signal. In the end, users can control electronic devices, such as computers, only with their eyes and thoughts.

Previously, Synchron had tried this scheme on four volunteers, and the effect was quite good-Stentrode was well fixed on them, the equipment was used at home, and volunteers could keep the equipment running safely without supervision.

Take Philip O'Keefe, a 62-year-old patient with gradual freezing. His condition has deteriorated to the point where he can hardly use the mouse. However, after implantation surgery and initial training, he can easily complete operations such as sending emails and shopping by moving his eyes. Last June 5438+February, he also sent an article entitled "Hello world!" With the help of the Twitter account of the CEO of Synchron. Twitter.

"This system is amazing. It takes practice just like learning to ride a bike, but once you start rolling, it will become natural. " O'Keefe described his feelings in a statement.

At present, Synchron is planning to further strengthen Stentrode. According to their ideas, brain signal sensors should be arranged in every corner of the brain through blood vessels, so that more signals and instructions can be read, helping disabled patients to achieve more complicated operations.

While Synchron is steadily advancing this plan, other BCI companies are also improving their own nerve implants. Among them, the most striking thing is undoubtedly Neuralink, which is inseparable from Musk's "bringing goods" behavior on social media.

According to the promotional video released by Neuralink in 20021,the brain implant developed by the company consists of a "small ball", including electronic devices and flexible electrodes, with a width of about 50μm, a thickness of about 5μm and a length of about 20mm. After implantation, the electrode will read brain activity by sensing or stimulating neurons, and even theoretically "write" brain activity.

Because it is impossible to conduct human experiments, Neuralink's previous experiments were all done on monkeys. After the chip was implanted, they tried to let a monkey play games through it. According to the published experimental video, when the monkey uses the joystick, the chip will record its brain activity and send the data back to the computer to analyze the corresponding relationship between its movements and brain activity. After that, the computer will disable the joystick. Although monkeys are still used to playing games with joysticks, it is their brains that actually control the games.

Musk believes that this scheme can help patients control artificial limbs because its principle is "no different" from that of monkeys playing games.

Of course, the shortcomings of this scheme are also obvious. As mentioned above, Neuralink brain machine implantation requires craniotomy on the patient, taking out a skull the size of a coin, then implanting the chip into the brain, and then sewing the sensor to the surface of the cerebral cortex with special surgical equipment-and when doing all this, carefully avoid the patient's blood vessels.

Neuralink has always ensured the safety of surgery, but no one knows whether such a "rough" implantation method will cause infection or even irreversible damage to the brain. Perhaps because of this, the FDA has been slow to approve Neuralink's request for human clinical trials. At least for the moment, Neuralink can only attack monkeys-and after the outside world accused Neuralink of "abusing" experimental monkeys, it is questionable whether such experiments can be done in Takuya.

It should be noted that this is not only a risk that Neuralink needs to face, but also a problem for many BCI companies including Synchron. As time goes on, any electrode that enters human tissue may cause inflammation. Whether to develop materials that can be implanted into the human brain for a long time without self-degradation or infection is a difficult problem that brain-computer interface companies need to overcome in the future.

On the other hand, how to avoid the moral and ethical problems of brain-computer interface also needs the attention of technology companies. As mentioned above, programs such as Neuralink can theoretically affect some brain activities of patients; In addition, the patient's original brain data, that is, ideas, which should not be known by anyone, will there be a risk of leakage in the era of brain-computer interface? Various problems are still hovering over this young technical field.

Synchron, a brain-computer interface company, beat Musk for human trials. According to foreign media reports, brain-computer interface company Synchron announced the first human clinical trial named "COMMAND" in the United States, and the first COMMAND patient participated in the clinical trial at Mount Sinai Hospital in new york.

It is reported that Synchron has developed a device called Stentrode to help patients with severe paralysis. The company's goal is to enable patients to control digital devices through intravascular brain implants.

Stentrode was minimally invasive implanted into the motor cortex of the brain through jugular vein. It is made of mesh material with 16 sensors. These sensors can be extended to the wall of blood vessels and then connected to electronic devices in the chest to relay brain signals from the motor cortex, enabling patients to complete daily tasks including text messages, emails, online shopping and telemedicine services.

Bruce Campbell, M.D., pointed out that unlike other devices requiring craniotomy, this brain-computer interface device is much less traumatic.

Tom Oxley, MD, CEO and founder of Synchron, said that the research on this command made progress in the feasibility stage of Synchron technology development, and promoted the solution for 5 million paralyzed patients in the United States.

Last month, the American Academy of Neurology announced Synchron's recent "conversion" clinical trial in Australia. The researchers monitored the participants in the switch test for a whole year. Recent research shows that Stentrode is safe, participants can use Synchron devices without supervision, and they can also send text messages, shop online and manage money.

Synchron, a brain-computer interface company, beat Musk for human trials. Synchron, a competitor of Neuralink, Musk's brain-computer interface company, announced the start of the first human clinical trial named "COMMAND" in the United States. The first COMMAND patient participated in the clinical trial of Mount Sinai Hospital in new york.

Tom Oxley, MD, CEO and founder of Synchron, said: "The command research has made progress in the feasibility stage of Synchron technology development, because we are preparing for our key experiments. Recruiting patients for the first time is an important milestone in the whole field, because we have promoted solutions for 5 million paralyzed patients in the United States. "

It is reported that Synchron has developed a device called Stentrode to help severely paralyzed patients. The company's goal is to enable patients to control digital devices through intravascular brain implants instead of using their hands. Stentrode goes through the jugular vein to the brain. It is made of mesh material and has 16 sensors, which can extend to the blood vessel wall. Synchron's Stentrode is connected to electronic devices in the chest, which transmit brain signals from the motor cortex.

Bruce Campbell, M.D., pointed out: "Our research is exciting because other devices need craniotomy, and this brain-computer interface device is much less traumatic. It receives electrical signals from the brain and enables people to control the computer through thinking. "

In contrast, Musk's Neuralink equipment is directly implanted into the brain by a robot similar to a computer numerical control (CNC) machine. The device consists of a spherical substance connected to a flexible electrode with filaments.

During its SWITCH clinical trial, Synchron conducted a successful human trial on four patients in Australia. Bruce Campbell is the author of the Australian Synchron human trial report, and the researchers monitored the participants in the SWITCH trial for a whole year. They observed that Stentrode was safe because there were no "zero adverse events" that eventually led to disability or death.

In the SWITCH trial in Australia, Stentrode was well fixed on all four patients, who used Synchron devices at home without supervision. Patients can also send short messages, shop and manage money online. 202 1, 1, Philip OKeefe, a Synchron patient, posted his first message on social media through Stentrode thinking.