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Soft brain chip could help solve Neuralink’s big implant challenge
University of Hong Kong team’s discovery could help solve a major problem for bioelectronic devices, rejection by the immune system
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Scientists have developed a new type of semiconductor that they hope will overcome a major problem for bioelectronic devices: the immune response that causes the body to reject implants.
Bioelectronics is the science of integrating electronic systems with biological systems using devices that can monitor or interact with the body’s natural processes.
Advanced examples include brain-computer interfaces, which translate brain signals into commands to control external devices.
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Researchers in China and the United States, including the private company Neuralink, have taken invasive brain-computer interface technology to the clinical trial stage.
Since their findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science last month, the team from the University of Hong Kong said they had been contacted by medical and cell researchers to explore how they could use the discovery.
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The team said they had developed 3D semiconductors in the form of hydrogels, moving beyond inflexible materials such as silicon so that scientists could create devices that were more compatible with our bodies.
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