The neurostartup Precision Neuroscience has implanted 4096 electrodes in the human brain, which is twice as many as the previous record of 2048 electrodes, set for 2023. Interestingly, the company is headed by ex-Neuralink engineer Elon Musk, who has only recently started human trials.
The Precision Neuroscience test was conducted at the Mount Sinai facility in New York as part of a major brain surgery. In April, the patient’s tumor was removed, and after the surgeons, the Precision team took over, temporarily implanting four arrays of the Layer 7 Cortical Interface system, each containing 1024 electrodes (a record 4096 in total).
During contact with the patient’s brain, the electrodes recorded a huge amount of information from an 8-square-centimeter area of the brain known as the motor-sensory border. The company states, that this data is key to creating technology that can read and understand user intent.
Unlike Neuralink, Precision Neuroscience has designed its implants to be non-invasive — microelectrodes are in contact with, but do not penetrate, brain tissue. Elon Musk’s Neuralink, on the other hand developed an interface that extends flexible wires several millimeters into the brainwhich is fraught with minor damage. Already during the first test, it was reported that some of themdisconnected from the patient’s brain.
Neuroscience CEO Ben Rapoport co-founded Neuralink and left Musk’s company due to security concerns.
In general, the main goal of all BCI (brain-computer interface) developers is to create a viable tool that can transform the thoughts of patients with degenerative diseases into cursor movements on the screen — to partially restore their ability to communicate, or to allow people with spinal cord injuries to work at a computer.
The Layer 7 interface is designed to be implanted through a small incision, while the Neurlink operating robot requires a much larger opening. Precision Neuroscience also claims that its BCI arrays can be disconnected from the brain as needed without causing harm.