Advances in brain sensor technology could transform how doctors monitor patients with chronic neurological conditions, according to new research.
Scientists from Edinburgh University said that emerging developments in semiconductor technology which can detect and process brain signals locally could "unlock new medical interventions" through the use of bio-implants in the brain.
The discovery could pave the way to comparatively low-cost, real-time tracking of brain activity in patients who have been paralysed or experienced impairment to sensory functions such as speech as a result of a spinal injury or stroke.
The devices - known as Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) – are currently used to recognise a person’s thought patterns, which are transmitted to a computer via sensors attached to the scalp.
This information is then decoded electronically to instruct a desired action, such a prosthetic limb movement.
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However, current technologies require huge amounts of energy and computer power, just to analyse a single brain signal.
This restricts patient care to clinical settings and limits a clinician’s ability to deliver prompt, accurate and local medical intervention.
A team of researchers led by the Centre for Electronics Frontiers at Edinburgh University in partnership with the Universities of Bar-Ilan, Israel and Padova, Italy created a new BCI technology that uses nanotechnology.
This capability enables enhanced brain monitoring through memristors – an emerging semiconductor technology that mimics brain synapses by integrating processing with memory.
Memristors can compress vast quantities of data into essential information with minimal power consumption.
They are miniscule in size and can be integrated into standard microchips for enhanced processing, whilst minimising the energy usage and making them ideal for implantable applications.
The team recorded the memory function of a freely moving rat, trained to associate a particular sound with a reward.
The rat’s brain activity was then interfaced with Edinburgh’s memristor technology which demonstrated that it can detect and process the rat’s brain signals in real time.
Current technologies use up a huge amount of energy just to decode a single brain wave (Image: Getty)
All procedures were approved by the Bar-Ilan University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
This finding demonstrates that power-efficient nanotechnologies can be successfully implemented with BCI technologies thus providing new directions for biomedical research and future monitoring of neurological conditions.
The results have been published in the journal, Science Advances.
The study was funded by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Centre (EPSRC).
The work was led by Caterina Sbandati, a PhD student in the Centre for Electronics Frontiers at Edinburgh University's School of Engineering.
She said: “By using an interdisciplinary collaborative approach between engineering and biological sciences we successfully integrated brain-machine interfacing technologies with emerging electronics, thus providing new directions for biomedical research.”
Themis Prodromakis, Regius Professor of the Centre for Electronics Frontiers, added: "Never before has the link between biology and engineering been so strong.
"This study is a great example of how the advancement of semiconductor devices and energy-efficient AI hardware at the Centre for Electronics Frontiers can unlock new medical interventions, transforming modern society through emerging technologies."
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