Brain-computer interface companies like Neuralink are in the news a lot these days for their potential to revolutionize how humans interact with machines, but electrodes are not the most brain-friendly materials — they’re hard and stiff, while brains are soft and squishy, which limits their efficacy and increases the risk of damaging brain tissue. A new hydrogel-based electrode developed at the Wyss Institute solves that problem by providing a tunable, conductive scaffold that human neurons and other cell types feel right at home in. Not only does the scaffold mimic the soft, porous conditions of brain tissue, it supported the growth and differentiation of human neural progenitor cells (NPCs) into multiple different brain cell types for up to 12 weeks. The achievement is reported in Advanced Healthcare Materials. Not only can the new electrode be used to study the formation of human neural networks in vitro, it could enable the creation of implantable devices that more seamlessly integrate with a patient’s brain tissue, improving performance and decreasing risk of injury.
http://news.poseidon-us.com/SgTbjz
