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SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 2 (AP) Tech billionaire Elon Musk said his Neuralink company is seeking permission to test its brain implant as soon as possible.
During a live-streamed “show and tell” presentation Wednesday night, Musk said his team was asking U.S. regulators to allow them to test the device. He said he thinks the company should be able to place the implant in a human brain in about six months as part of a clinical trial, though that timeline is far from certain.
Musk’s Neuralink is one of many groups working on connecting the brain to computers to help treat brain diseases, overcome brain injuries and other applications.
The field dates back to the 1960s, says Rajesh Rao, co-director of the Center for Neurotechnology at the University of Washington. “But it really took off in the ’90s. Recently we’ve seen a lot of progress, especially in the area of ​​communication brain-computer interfaces.”
Rao, who has seen Musk’s speech online, said that he believes that Neuralink’s achievements in brain-computer interfaces are not leading. “But … they’re pretty ahead on the actual hardware of the device,” he said.
The Neuralink device is about the size of a large coin and is designed to be implanted in the skull, with ultra-thin wires running directly into the brain. The first two applications for humans will be restoring vision and helping people with little or no ability to operate their muscles quickly use digital devices, Musk said.
He said he also envisions that in someone with a broken neck, signals from the brain could be bridged to the Neuralink device in the spinal cord.
“We believe there are no physical limitations to full-body functionality,” said Musk, who recently took over Twitter and is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
In experiments by other teams, implanted sensors have allowed paralyzed people to use brain signals to operate computers and move robotic arms. In a 2018 study in the journal PLOS ONE, three participants with paralysis from the neck down affecting the limbs used an experimental brain-computer interface tested by the BrainGate consortium. The interface records neural activity from a small sensor in the brain to navigate things like email and apps.
In a recent study published in the journal Nature, scientists at the Swiss research center NeuroRestore identified a type of neuron activated by electrical stimulation of the spinal cord that enabled nine patients with chronic spinal cord injuries to walk again.
Researchers have also been working on brain-machine interfaces for restoring vision. Some companies have developed retinal implants, Rao said, but Musk’s statement suggests his team will use signals that target the brain’s visual cortex directly, an approach that some academic groups are also pursuing “with limited success.”
A Neuralink spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email to the press office. Dr. Jaimie Henderson, a professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University and an advisor to Neuralink, said Neuralink differs from some other devices in that it can penetrate deeper into the brain. But he added: “There are many different systems with many different strengths.” (AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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