On the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast, explore the frontier of implantable technology with experts from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Listen on Apple or Spotify.
Neural implants - implantable, flexible electrode arrays capable of recording and stimulating activity in the brain - are advancing rapidly, with the potential to treat neurological conditions and diseases. These thin-film devices are not relegated to science fiction - they're changing lives today. From offering new hope for epilepsy patients to decoding speech for those who have lost their voice, neural implants are transforming our understanding of the human brain.
Leading the effort at LLNL are Implantable Microsystems Group Leader Razi Haque and Allison Yorita, a staff engineer in Haque's group. Haque and his team develop implantable electrode arrays capable of detecting electrical and chemical signals in the body. As Yorita explains in the new episode, this technology is not just about treating disorders - it's about giving people their lives back.
"What's fascinating about this technology is that it can be used for so many different applications," Yorita says. "We're really supplying the tools to help these neuroscientists and neurosurgeons understand what's happening in the brain and also to help treat some of these afflictions. This would be really helpful for people who are no longer able to speak, whether that's from something like ALS or locked-in syndrome, Parkinson's, depression [or] PTSD."
The benefits of neural implants go beyond medical applications into improving basic scientific knowledge of how the brain functions. Matthew Leonard, an associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at UCSF has worked extensively with epilepsy patients, a condition that affects millions of people worldwide and can severely limit their quality of life.
"Even if they don't have super frequent seizures, having epilepsy and having seizures at all means for a lot of them, most of them, they can't drive. A lot of them can't live independently," Leonard explains. "I've heard it described by patients like it's always hanging over their heads. They don't know when the next seizure is going to come and it could be at a time where it's perfectly fine and it's safe and they're surrounded by people who know how to help them, but it could also be at a time that's really dangerous."
Leonard and his colleagues have used thin-film electrodes like those developed at LLNL to gain a deeper understanding of brain activity during seizures. The data collected from these electrodes have allowed surgeons to perform life-changing procedures that significantly improve patients' quality of life. One patient, a young man with epilepsy, was so intrigued by his treatment that he returned to the lab after his surgery to analyze his own brain data.
Back to the roots
LLNL's implantable thin-film electrodes, which are developed and microfabricated on-site, can be traced back to the work on the Department of Energy's Artificial Retina Project in the early 2010s. The project aimed to create an implantable prosthetic to restore vision for individuals with certain types of blindness. The resulting technology was licensed to a private company and helped restore sight to numerous patients, setting the stage for the Lab's current focus on neural implants.
As Haque explains on the podcast, the artificial retina laid the groundwork for the infrastructure, equipment and expertise now being used to push the boundaries of today's high-resolution neural implants at the Lab. LLNL's thin-film devices were used to study speech and have been implanted into epilepsy patients undergoing surgery to record neural activity in the hippocampus - a region of the brain essential for memory and cognition - revealing a new understanding of how the brain processes information.
The studies allowed scientists to see traveling waves of neural activity moving across the hippocampus, finding what was once thought to be a 'one-way street' was more like a two-way street. Understanding how these waves affect cognitive processes could change how memory-related disorders are treated in the future and lead to tailored treatments for neurological disorders, making therapies more personalized and effective.
As Yorita and Haque point out, LLNL is currently developing devices that can stay in the brain long-term, which could greatly increase their therapeutic potential.
"We're pushing to expand our use case from beyond just during surgery, temporarily, to something that can be implanted and stay in the brain for days or weeks," Yorita explains. "The idea there being that in order to have real human impact, you need to be able to have a device that can stay in the brain for months, if not years."
"We have these dreams of being able to help people who are paralyzed or people who can't speak," Haque adds. "There are people who suffer from locked-in syndrome, who can't talk. Can we get them to talk one day? There's been amazing progress in that example already."
With research ongoing into decoding speech, treating epilepsy and understanding how the brain functions, the next decade could see dramatic improvements in how we diagnose and treat neurological conditions through implantable technology, according to the scientists.
Join LLNL's Yorita and Haque and UCSF's Leonard as they discuss the future of neuroscience and potential for neural implants to unlock the mysteries of the brain and improve human health in the newest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast. Listen on Apple or Spotify.
