EU-funded robot uses magnets to steer graphene implants into the brain

A European research group has built a robot that uses magnets to steer ultra-thin graphene electrodes into the brain. Barcelona’s INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, which leads the clinical work, announced the results on Wednesday, at the end of the EU-funded MINIGRAPH project.

The project’s first target is Parkinson’s disease. Doctors already treat it with deep brain stimulation, which uses implanted electrodes to deliver electrical pulses. The group wants implants that record brain activity, read the signals and respond with stimulation. The aim is therapy that runs on its own, tuned to each patient.

Nanoflex Robotics and ETH Zurich built the implantation system, which relies on remote magnetic navigation. A magnetic carrier delivers the thin probes, and the robot guides them under X-ray imaging. It can follow straight or curved paths to reach both the surface of the brain and deeper areas.

INBRAIN said the team tested the procedure in the lab and in a large animal model. The company said it could make implanting brain-computer interfaces faster and more repeatable.

“The MINIGRAPH project demonstrated the feasibility and potential to use electromagnetic robotics to control the delivery of next-generation BCI not only though straight but also curved trajectories deep into the brain with sub millimeter accuracy,” said Matt Curran, co-founder and chief executive of Nanoflex Robotics.

Most brain electrodes today are made of metal. INBRAIN makes thin-film electrodes from graphene, a sheet of carbon one atom thick. Accelerated ageing tests produced data supporting more than 10 years of projected stability, the company said. The group also ran toxicity and biocompatibility studies on the material.

The consortium built compact electronics that can decode signals from hundreds of points in the brain. It combined the probes, electronics and software into one implant prototype, which it tested in a translational animal model.

“As BCI technologies move toward patients, making them available to more people will depend not only on our ability to manufacture advanced devices, but also on developing precise and reproducible ways to implant them,” said Jose A. Garrido, co-founder and chief scientific officer of INBRAIN.

The European Innovation Council funded MINIGRAPH through Horizon Europe. The EU contribution was €3.93m over 45 months from October 2022, according to the project’s website . Switzerland funded ETH Zurich’s part.

The Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) coordinated the group. Imec, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Leiden University Medical Center and Palacký University Olomouc also took part.

The tests so far were in the lab and in animals. In April, INBRAIN said it had finished enrolling patients in a separate first-in-human study of its graphene interfaces for brain decoding and mapping.

In the US, Paradromics put a brain chip in its first patient in June. China approved its first commercial brain implant this summer. Science Corp is bringing a retina implant to Europe .