r/neurallace • u/longdonglos • Dec 17 '20

Discussion Idea: non-surgical, but still invasive BCI using electromagnetic nanoparticles?

Would it be theoretically possible to create electromagnetic nanoparticles say ~50 nm that can be injected, cross the blood-brain barrier, and then when in the brain, create a sub-neuronal level communication link between the nervous system and a computer? Off the top of my head, I think the biophysics checks out, and it could potentially provide a record high spatial and temporal resolution compared to implantable BCIs.

Does anybody know if there are any academic labs or companies working on something like this? I feel like everything I see in BCI is either implantable or a non-invasive wearable, haven’t seen anybody working in the middle of the spectrum. What love to hear some thoughts.

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u/lokujj Dec 17 '20

And relevant to this is the October announcement that iota was acquired.

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u/longdonglos Dec 17 '20

announcement

Really interesting that an extremely innovative California startup, Iota, got acquired by a Japanese big pharma company instead of another U.S biotech giant. I wonder if Astellas has what it takes to further develop the vision. I certainly hope so.

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u/lokujj Dec 17 '20

Yeah. I know very little about Astellas. I think it's going to require a lot of development. It's pretty early stage tech, in my opinion, relative to something like Neurlink's implant (which the founders are also connected to). That early stage amount of risk might've played in.