Miniature Brain Stimulator: Groundbreaking Demonstration in Human Subjects

This innovation, called the Digitally programmable Over-brain Therapeutic (DOT), has the potential to transform the treatment of drug-resistant depression and other psychiatric or neurological disorders. It offers a therapeutic option that gives patients more control and access compared to current neurostimulation-based therapies. Additionally, it is less invasive than other brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).

“Our research demonstrates that our device, which is the size of a pea, can activate the motor cortex, leading to improvement in the patient’s condition.”Robinson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering at Rice, explained that the new implant, which can be placed above different parts of the brain, like the prefrontal cortex, has the potential to improve executive functioning in individuals with depression and other disorders. The current brain stimulation technologies require large batteries to be placed under the skin and connected to the stimulating device with long wires, leading to more surgery and a greater burden of hardware implantation for the individual., risks of wire breakage or failure and the necessity for future battery replacement surgeries.”

“We have removed the necessity for a battery by wirelessly powering the device using an external transmitter,” stated Joshua Woods, a graduate student in electrical engineering in the Robinson lab and the main author of the study published in Science Advances. Amanda Singer, a former graduate student in Rice’s applied physics program who now works at Motif Neurotech, is also a co-author.

The technology is based on a material that transforms magnetic fields into electrical pulses. This transformation process is highly efficient at small scales and has proven to be a promising solution. rnrnThe device has a good misalignment tolerance, which means it doesn’t require precise maneuvering to activate and control. With a width of 9 millimeters, it can deliver 14.5 volts of stimulation.

“Our implant receives all of its energy through the magnetoelectric effect,” explained Robinson, founder and CEO of Motif, a startup working to bring the device to market. “The physics behind this power transfer makes it much more efficient than any other wireless power transfer technologies in these conditions.”

Motif is among the neurotech companies exploring the potential of BCIs to transform treatments for neurological conditions.l disorders.

“Neurostimulation plays a crucial role in making therapies possible for mental health conditions, especially where the side effects of drugs and their lack of effectiveness mean that many people do not have adequate treatment options,” Robinson explained.

The device was tested temporarily in a human patient by using it to stimulate the motor cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for movement, and observing a hand movement response. The researchers then demonstrated that the device can interface with the brain consistently for a period of 30 days in pigs.

“This has not been attempted previously due to the required signal quality and strength for effective stimulation.”The brain previously couldn’t be accessed through the dura using wireless power transfer for implants this small,” Woods said.

Robinson sees the technology being used at home. A doctor would prescribe the treatment and give instructions for using the device, but patients would have full control over how the treatment is used.

“At home, the patient would wear a hat or device to power and communicate with the implant, press ‘go’ on their iPhone or smartwatch, and then the electrical stimulation from the implant would activate a network of neurons in the brain,” Robinson said.The insertion of the device would be a quick and minimally invasive 30-minute procedure, with the device being placed in the bone over the brain. Both the implant and the incision would be nearly invisible, allowing the patient to return home the same day. Sheth, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, likened the process to the routine nature of a pacemaker in cardiac care. He explained that deep brain stimulation (DBS) is the equivalent in neurological and psychiatric disorders, even though it may sound intimidating and invasive.ly quite a safe procedure, but it’s still brain surgery, and its perceived risk will place a very low ceiling on the number of people who are willing to accept it and may benefit from it. Here’s where technologies like this come in. A 30-minute minor procedure that is little more than skin surgery, done in an outpatient surgery center, is much more likely to be tolerated than DBS. So if we can show that it is about as effective as more invasive alternatives, this therapy will likely make a much larger impact on mental health.” For some conditions, epilepsy for example, the device may need to be on permanently or most of the time, but fFor individuals with mental health conditions like depression and OCD, a short daily session of stimulation may be enough to produce the intended effects on the functioning of the specific neural network.

Looking ahead, Robinson expressed keen interest in developing networks of implants that can both stimulate and record brain activity, leading to personalized therapies tailored to each individual’s unique brain patterns. On the therapeutic front, Motif Neurotech is currently pursuing FDA approval for a prolonged clinical trial involving human subjects.  Researchers can join the Motif Neurotech website to receive updates on the start and location of these trials.

This work received partial support from The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, the McNair Medical Institute, DARPA, and the National Science Foundation.