A new company called Kernel developed a mysterious model: by implanting diagnostic brain prostheses to help people with memory problems. The project has a broad target market, including those with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, as well as those who have suffered brain trauma.
If this company's model is feasible, then in the future, doctors will implant Kernel-developed micro-devices into the patient's brain - to be precise, it is implanted in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. The electrodes of this implanted device will stimulate certain neurons by generating electricity to help the brain work, such as converting the external information input into the brain into long-term memory.
The development of this prosthesis was based on a study led by Ted Berger, director of the Center for Neuroengineering at the University of Southern California. Berger told the "Pop magazine" reporter that experiments on mice and other primates convinced him that the time had come and that it was time to invest the prosthesis in clinical trials. He said: "We are testing this prosthesis in the human body and we have got fairly good initial results. We will go further in the future and work hard to achieve the commercialization of this prosthesis."
"Pop magazine" specifically reported on Berger's pioneering achievements in memory implants, hoping to use this as an opportunity to stop people suffering from physical, emotional and intellectual disabilities.
In Berger's study, when certain neurons receive new information, the electrode materials in the hippocampus record the electrical signals and translate them into a memory code. These electrical signals are emitted by neurons in specific areas. Berger's research is how outside information is transformed into electrical signals and stored in the brain as long-term memory. Then, his research office established a mathematical model that can receive information and produce corresponding output signals, that is, models that convert external information into memory.
In the process of receiving information, the electrode of the implanted memory prosthesis records the signal, which is equivalent to a microprocessor to realize the calculation. The electrodes then stimulate the neurons and encode the information for long-term memory.
For those who are difficult to form long-term memory, this implant will help them. Berger said: "We will get these memory codes and put them back into the brain. If we can implement this, then this implant will be ready for use."
Earlier research on memory prostheses such as Berger and other neuroengineering researchers were funded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, and they were also committed to the development of clinical devices during this decade.
However, Kernel's new start-up project's main funding is still from the technology entrepreneur Bryan Johnson. He sold his payment company to PayPal (the world's largest online payment platform) for $800 million in 2013. After this, Johnson started the so-called OS Fund venture, an investment project aimed at "rewriting the operating system of life" to benefit humanity. USC's Berger said that Johnson not only hopes to earn the next 800 million U.S. dollars through the Kernel, but that he has a new challenge in the next step - to improve the human brain.
The funding will provide more human trials, such as temporary placement of electrode material in hospitalized epilepsy patients and as part of routine treatment. In the human tests conducted to date, the researchers recorded the data from the hippocampus during the memory test, and also stimulated the hippocampus with electric shock to improve the patient's memory.
The science of memory formation still leaves many basic questions waiting to be answered, which also reflects the constructive role of the Kernel Founding Team dedicated to the development of such clinical devices. For example, is there a common code for memory? If two people remember the same string of words, do their electrical signals match? Or do they all use the same pattern of signals to encode information and remember it?
Berger said that when experimenting with mice, the researchers did find "significant common coding," but no such codes were found in primates. Despite this, he added that they were only tested on a handful of primates and therefore lacked a large enough data set to analyze. As far as humans are concerned, even if such a universal memory code exists, it is difficult to apply it with current technological capabilities.
The crux of the problem lies in the fact that humans have far more neurons than mice—people have as many as 86 billion neurons, while mice have only about 200 million. Therefore, electrodes implanted into the human hippocampus can only record a relatively small proportion of data. Berger said: "We can only record some neuron-based information with certain deviations." Thus, one of the objectives of the Kernel project is to develop dense electrode arrangements that can record more information from neurons. Into the body.
Assuming that the Kernel project can successfully transform basic science into a real product, it is not actually the first brain implant implant that hits the market. Implant technology was used early in deep brain stimulation surgery. This has also become part of Parkinson's disease treatment, as well as experimental treatments for depression and many other neuropsychological disorders. In 2013, the regulatory agency approved the first brain implant surgery for epilepsy. Implants can supervise the brain and prevent the onset of epilepsy.
All indications are that the era of bionic brains is coming, so stay tuned.
Via ieee
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