New Chinese gene modified brain machine interface smashes expectations

Chinese researchers claimed to have reached a breakthrough in Brain Machine Interface (BMI) by engineering a new implantable electrode to help people control devices with their thoughts and improve their neuron health.  The device influences the surrounding neurons to create a more harmonious interaction between the brain and foreign object.

Researchers implanted electrodes into both sides of a mouse’s brain to evaluate whether their genetically altered version would increase neuronal activity. The results were positive, showing that blocking specific genes led to enhanced performance.

Fang Ying, a co-author of a new study, said via South China Morning News that most efforts in this field of neuroscience, most notably Elon Musk’s Neuralink, focus on “developing bio-compatible neural electrodes” that the brain won’t reject.

A recent Neuralink study on a quadriplegic patient found that a polymer device lost power in as little as a month, though they fixed the problem. Nevertheless, along with finding the right material, producing a device with longevity has posed considerable challenges in the field.

As published in the study, researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) genetically engineered the electrode to amplify “the growth of neuronal cells and tissue surrounding it” to improve the performance of devices such as Neuralink by strengthening their connection to the neurons by making them larger.

Polymer remains the material that is most cooperative with the brain, as Neuralink even uses it. However, Chinese researchers altered the device’s design. In the shape of a comb, its eight teeth function as microphones that pick up signals from nearby neurons.

Whereas other devices have had long-term trouble, one of the study’s authors said that years of research and testing proves that this device works for over a year. Aside from its shape, the key to its success is the genetic sequence. A coating of a drug that contains a small RNA genetic code that influences the surrounding neuronal network.

“We knock down specific genes in the brain precisely. For example, we knocked down PTEN in neuronal cells around the implanted BCI device. The downregulation leads to an enlargement of neuronal cell bodies at the electrode-tissue interface, positively affecting neuronal health and potentially enhancing the interface’s performance,” Tian Huihui told South China Morning Post, “The enhanced condition and increased number of neurons near the electrodes significantly improve the quality of the collected signals, which is highly beneficial for subsequent decoding of neural signals.”

A team in China already conducted a study with a monkey that was able to move a robotic arm with its thoughts. BMI technology has advanced remarkably quickly, according to the South China Morning Post.

Though altering the genetics of the human brain poses some ethical concerns, another team of researchers pinpointed a gene that keeps breastfeeding mothers’ bones strong, which could be manipulated toward a therapeutic aim.

As the Neuralink study suggests, this electrode could even bring back some functionality to the brain by stimulating neurons in paralysed patients. More so, however, this improvement in the design, along with the addition of a genetic code, has produced a breakthrough in BMI technologies by improving the system overall.