First human trials of graphene brain implant to begin

The first brain implant made of graphene is set to be used in a clinical trial later this month in Manchester.
Researchers at the National Graphene Institute hope that the landmark trial will lead to the development of more sensitive interfaces between the human brain and external computers compared with existing devices.
Improved implants could in turn lead to better treatments for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and stroke, as well as translating the thoughts of disabled people into speech or movement.
Graphene was hailed as a “wonder material” after its discovery at the city’s university 20 years ago.
A team at Salford Royal Hospital will place a flexible interface with 64 graphene electrodes on the brain of the first trial patient at the end of the month, the Financial Times reported.
The patient is undergoing neurosurgery to remove a glioblastoma tumour. The implant will stimulate and read neural activity with high precision, so that functional parts of the brain can be preserved when the cancer is cut out.
“The primary objective of this ‘first in human’ trial is to demonstrate the safety of graphene electrodes applied to the brain in eight to ten patients,” said Professor Kostas Kostarelos, the chief investigator for the trial.
“We’ll also assess the quality of the signals recorded and the implant’s ability to stimulate the brain.”
The implants have been made InBrain, a neurotech company based in Barcelona, in collaboration with the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and the University of Manchester.
Carolina Aguilar, the chief executive of InBrain, said the next stage will be to carry out clinical trials with the company’s therapeutic implant for Parkinson’s disease.
It has two linked components, one of which sits on the brain’s surface layer “like a piece of Cellophane”, reading and interpreting its electrical activity. The other is inserted into the brain to give much more precise stimulus to the regions that control movement and other functions impaired by Parkinson’s than any deep brain stimulation device available.
She said: “With artificial intelligence the device can learn from the brain of individual patients to deliver personalised neurological therapy.”
Graphene sheets consist of a single layer of carbon atoms in a hexagonal lattice — a molecular structure that gives the material extraordinary electrical and mechanical properties.
“I still think graphene is a ‘wonder material’ because it does many wonderful things,” said Jose Garrido, InBrain’s chief scientist. “It has led to a tremendous number of other scientific discoveries but translating those into applications in competition with established technologies is extremely time-consuming and expensive.”