新型可拉伸柔性电极破解脑机接口核心难题

Core Insights - A research team led by Fang Ying, a senior researcher at the Beijing Brain Science and Brain-like Research Institute and founder of Zhiran Medical, has developed a new type of stretchable flexible electrode that addresses the issues of traditional flexible electrodes displacing and detaching during dynamic brain movements, providing a foundational solution for the long-term stability of invasive brain-machine interfaces [1][2] Group 1: Technology Development - The new stretchable electrode architecture can dynamically follow brain movements and requires only 1/100 of the force needed by Neuralink's linear electrodes, significantly reducing mechanical damage to brain tissue and minimizing immune responses and glial scars caused by traditional linear electrodes [2] - Research conducted on macaques demonstrated that the stretchable flexible electrode can achieve long-term stable recordings in the brain, successfully capturing 257 single-neuron signals with a 256-channel implant and large-scale, high-quality neuronal signals with a 1024-channel implant [2] Group 2: Industry Implications - The development of this ultra-flexible neural electrode array technology addresses core issues related to the implantation of bioelectronic devices in the brain, effectively solving problems of electrode displacement and inflammation caused by significant brain movement, while also significantly reducing implantation damage to brain tissue and shortening surgical operation time [2] - This advancement is seen as a potential game-changer for the invasive brain-machine interface industry, which is considered the ultimate direction for high-bandwidth human-machine interaction, especially following the challenges faced by companies like Neuralink [1][2]