Image Credit: Synchron
Synchron Inc. announced today the first successful clinical implantation of the Stentrode®, a minimally-invasive neural interface technology, a component of the Synchron Brain-Computer Interface. This is the first clinical feasibility trial evaluating this technology for its potential to restore communication in people with severe paralysis.
Image Credit: iota Biosciences
iota Biosciences was established in 2017, building up on the concept of “neural dust” technology invented at the University of California, Berkeley by iota co-founders and co-CEOs Jose Carmena, Ph.D. and Michel Maharbiz, Ph.D.
iota’s “neural dust” consists of a small implantable device (a few mm long) that is powered from an external ultrasound generator. According to iota, their devices can record electrical information, stimulate nerves and communicate with other machines through ultrasound. Iota claims that “neural dust” devices can modulate the information transmitted through nerves, enabling doctors to better treat conditions from arthritis to cardiovascular disease
In 2018 iota completed a $15 million series A funding round aimed at developing a sensing platform. In September 2019, iota entered into a joint R&D agreement with Japanese Astellas Pharma to “design detailed specifications of implantable medical devices and conduct preclinical studies for several diseases with high unmet medical needs.”
Eventually, iota hopes to shrink the device to the size of grain of sand that can simultaneously sense neural activity and stimulate nerves to enable highly-targeted closed-loop therapies.
iota Biosciences’ website is at: https://iota.bio/
I’ve stopped watching CNN, because it has become as bad and radically polarized as FOX news is on the other side of the spectrum, so it was an external reference that sent me to the following CNN article by Dominic Rech:
“Brain implants could give governments and companies power to read your mind, scientists warn“
So… now CNN is not only the mouthpiece for the far left, but like FOX News (which I consider a parody channel) has also turned into a pusher of ridiculous conspiracies.
Sure, neural implants can read specific motor patterns that, with exhaustive training of the subject, can be used as a brain-machine interface. However, that is an extremely far cry from being able to surreptitiously read someone’s mind or implant thoughts into people (AKA “synthetic telepathy”).
CNN’s Rech quotes a report by Dr. Tim Constandinou and his colleagues at the Next Generation Neural Interfaces (NGNI) Lab at Imperial College London. However, the report doesn’t imply anything of the sort of the sensationalistic title chosen by CNN.
Bottom line: NO, the Government and Private Companies will not be able to either read or place thoughts into your mind any time soon through brain implants!
Now, my main issue isn’t that CNN is using a ridiculous headline as click bait, but rather it is the fact that such reporting is irresponsible and outright dangerous.
Despite a clear notice that I won’t address such queries, I still receive copious amounts of e-mail messages from people who believe that they have been surreptitiously implanted with electronic devices to harass and spy on them. Mr. Rech’s article recklessly provides fuel for such psychotic thoughts, and legitimizes a conspiracy that discourages these people from receiving the psychiatric care they so critically require.
Shame on you Dominic Rech and CNN!
Image Credit: Axonics
Axonics Modulation Technologies is an Irvine, CA company founded in 2013 that developed a novel implantable sacral nerve stimulator to treat patients with urinary and bowel dysfunction disorders.
The Axonics r-SNM system is a miniaturized rechargeable implantable stimulator with a longevity of at least 15 years. The system also features a charging system designed for quick charge times and a user-friendly remote control and programming interface.
The r-SNM device won CE Mark approval in June 2016. Axonics announced today that it had received FDA approval for the clinical indication of fecal incontinence. The approval includes the claim of a 15-year functional life and the ability of patients to undergo full-body MRI scans without the necessity of having the device explanted. Axonics has an additional pre-market approval (“PMA”) filing currently under review with the FDA for the clinical indications of overactive bladder (urinary urgency incontinence and urinary urgency frequency) as well as urinary retention for which the Company anticipates a determination in the near term.
BackBeat® Medical in New Hope, PA, a subsidiary of Orchestra BioMed, Inc. announced that it received the CE Mark for its Moderato® device. BackBeat’s Cardiac Neuromodulation Therapy (CNT) is a patented implantable cardiac stimulation-based treatment for hypertension that immediately and substantially lowers blood pressure. The stimulation algorithms in the Moderato® device are designed such that they simultaneously modulate autonomic nervous system responses that normally drive and maintain blood pressure higher. The Moderato® device also provides standard DDDR pacemaker functions.
The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) selected the MODERATO II clinical study for a late-breaking science presentation at TCT 2019 (September 28, 2019) by Karl-Heinz Kuck, MD., Ph.D., Director of Cardiology at the Lans Medicum, Hamburg, Germany and principal investigator for the MODERATO Studies.
The website for BackBeat is at: https://orchestrabiomed.com/technology/backbeat-cnt/