The Stentrode Endovascular Electrode Array (Courtesy of Synchron)
The Stentrode™ Endovascular Electrode Array and Implantable Receiver Transmitter Unit. (Courtesy of Synchron)
Posted on 12/17/2022 5:43:11 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are betting on the New York-based Synchron as the answer to Elon Musk’s Neuralink.
Founded by Australian professors Tom Oxley and Nick Opie, the company on Dec. 16 announced it had closed a $110 million Series C funding round involving Bezos Expeditions, Gates Frontier, and ARCH Venture Partners.
The Synchron Switch is a “brain-computer interface” that is implanted in the blood vessels at the surface of the motor cortex of the brain via the jugular vein.
Once set, the interface will detect and wirelessly transmit information from the brain, allowing severely paralysed individuals to control personal devices without needing to use their hands.
The funds will be put towards a pivotal clinical trial.
The Stentrode Endovascular Electrode Array (Courtesy of Synchron)
The Stentrode™ Endovascular Electrode Array and Implantable Receiver Transmitter Unit. (Courtesy of Synchron)
“We have an opportunity to deliver a first-in-class commercial [brain-computer interface],” said Oxley, also the CEO of Synchron, in a statement.
“The problem of paralysis is much larger than people realize. 100 million people worldwide have upper limb impairment,” he added.
ARCH Managing Director Robert Nelson said Synchron was helping individuals with untreatable conditions “regain connection to the world.
“It is an exciting time for neurotechnology,” he said.
Clinical trials are currently underway in the United States and Australia with Opie saying the procedure was minimally invasive—a factor he believes sets it apart from Musk’s Neuralink.
“We don’t need to remove the scalp and skull or put electrodes directly into delicate brain tissue,” he said in comments obtained by AAP.
“We’ve come up with a clever way of getting to the right place in the brain just by using the body’s naturally occurring highways and blood vessels.”
He added this ensured patients recovered faster as well from the procedure.
So far, four Australian paralysis patients have received implants since undergoing the procedure at Royal Melbourne Hospital in 2020.
“All of those patients were able to control a computer with their mind,” he said. “And there were no serious device-related effects.”
The first U.S. patient was treated in July 2022 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York after Synchron received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year.
In contrast, Musk’s Neuralink has yet to receive approval from the body and is also facing questions over potential animal welfare violations.
Musk had wanted to start human trials in six months, yet the billionaire is also reported to have approached Synchron about a potential investment.
Opie says no deal is on the table.
Other investors include Reliance Digital Health, Greenoaks, Alumni Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Project X, as well as existing investors Khosla Ventures, NeuroTechnology Investors, METIS, Forepont Capital Partners, ID8 Investments, and Shanda Group.
AAP contributed to this article.
Don’t trust these two jokers. More likely a device for mass mind control.
It’s a two way transponder and the mRNA shots establish the communication driver paths to access neuron messaging sequences.
Don’t know what to make of this, except that good intentions unguided by wisdom from Above are bound to cause harm. We live in an age where everything that is broken presents an opportinity to think we must fix it. Sad? We can can fix that! When God says, “ My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways,” He means it.
Sound promising if you are paralyzed. I’m not...so I’ll pass.
the “machine” can surely be controlled from a distance. Think wifi...
They want transhumanism.
Nice if it can help the lame walk, the deaf hear and the blind see. But I don’t trust those two. Will their device monitor your words and report back to the Central Computer that you thought an unapproved thought and send an order to Paypal and your bank to deduct $2,500 from your accounts?
Crazy?
Knowing my luck my implant would make me do the funky chicken every time my wife used the TV remote.
Philosophical question - - -
If a person got a brain transplant = = =
Do they take on the personality and memories and intelligence of the donor???
We kind of think ‘we’ are, or live in, our brain.
Maybe not.
Comments?
Scientific studies have been done that show thought is also outside the brain. Almost all transplant patients have changes in food cravings, music et al that the donor had. I would think the brain would be even more so? Fascinating to ponder.
Scientific studies have been done that show thought is also outside the brain. Almost all transplant patients have changes in food cravings, music et al that the donor had. I would think the brain would be even more so? Fascinating to ponder.
= = =
The Bible talks about Body, Soul, Spirit. And there are kind of sub-divisions of these. What/where is our ‘Heart’?
I once read about a person headed to the guillotine.
He and his friends agreed that he would try to blink at them after the chop.
More pondering.
Will they be the first to receive the experimental implants?
I just want a plain elastic “Goody” brand headband :(
Wonder if it will cause blood clots around the materials it is made of?
Are they going to be the first customers?
Did he blink?
That an interesting question. Everything we are is recorded at a cellular level. Those would get passed on in organs. Like your memory’s floating around in someone elses body? Too many pondering’s at this moment. I’ll be up all night 😂😳
I would say that a person can’t get a brain transplant - but a brain might be able to get a body transplant.
I would say that a person can’t get a brain transplant - but a brain might be able to get a body transplant.
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