The UK has launched a new Precision Neurotechnologies programme that will provide US$84.2m un funding over four years for projects that will explore and unlock cutting-edge brain-interfacing technologies.
The economic burden of neurological disorders in the UK is roughly US$5.4bn.
To address this issue, the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) ⎯ a UK government agency inspired by the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ⎯ has announced the launch of its Precision Neurotechnologies programme.
Four Rice University research groups have been selected for funding by the programme, with three of the groups receiving US$5.9m for the development of “Brain Mesh” – a distributed network of minimally invasive implants to stimulate neural circuits and stream neural data in real time.
Brain Mesh
The project is led by Motif Neurotech, a US startup based in Houston that was spun out of the Rice lab of Jacob Robinson and will be developed in collaboration with UK-based startup MintNeuro.
Robinson, a Rice professor of electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering and founder and CEO of Motif, will lead system and network integration and encapsulation efforts for Mesh Points, implants about the size of a grain of rice that work in concert to track and modulate brain states.
Designed to be embedded in the skull above the dura ⎯ the protective membrane that envelops neural tissue ⎯ the millimetre-sized nodes entail relatively simple, low-risk surgery.
Robinson said the greater vision behind the research is the ability to address mental health conditions with tools better suited to the underlying physiology.
Mental, emotional and cognitive experiences are reflected at the level of the brain in patterns and rhythms of activation and latency. In diseased states, disruptions in these patterns are currently managed with medications that impact the whole brain and often other parts of the body as well.
Meanwhile, existing implantable neuromodulation devices typically target only a small part of the brain and require complex surgical procedures.
“Current neurotechnologies are limited in scale, specificity and compatibility with human use,” Robinson said.
“The Brain Mesh will be a precise, scalable system for brain-state monitoring and modulation across entire neural circuits designed explicitly for human translation.
“Our team brings together a key set of capabilities and the expertise to not only work through the technical and scientific challenges but also to steward this technology into clinical trials and beyond.”
In order to demonstrate the potential of the Brain Mesh for human use, a critical step is its validation in non-human primate experimental models. This part of the project will be carried out in the lab of Valentin Dragoi, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice.
Dragoi’s contribution will involve the deployment of a technique that combines optogenetics ⎯ neurons engineered to be responsive to light ⎯ with electrophysiological recordings in order to assess the ability of the Brain Mesh platform to selectively engage targeted neuron populations.
“It is deeply motivating to be a part of this team, and I am thrilled with the opportunity to have our work inform neurotechnology that could someday revolutionise brain health,” said Dragoi.
Gene therapy for dysfunctional brain circuits
The final team out of the four selected projects will be led by Rice bioengineer Jerzy Szablowski, assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice who specialises in non-invasive brain circuit monitoring and control via synthetic serum markers, gene-delivery vectors and site-specific therapeutics.
Together with collaborators at three universities and two industry partners, he will work on developing closed-loop, self-regulating gene therapy for dysfunctional brain circuits.
The team is backed by an award of approximately US$2.3m.
“Our goal is to develop a method for returning neural circuits involved in neuropsychiatric illnesses such as epilepsy, schizophrenia, dementia, etc. to normal function and maybe even make them more resilient,” Szablowski said.
