A team led by researchers at the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering has been awarded a $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop next-generation brain implants that can record brain activity with unprecedented resolution and speed across different brain regions. The technology aims to advance neuroscience by providing clearer insights into brain function and overcome key limitations of existing brain-monitoring devices.
The project builds on the team’s previous work on a neural implant that captures real-time information about activity deep inside the brain while sitting on its surface. This thin, transparent and flexible implant, called Neuro-clear, houses a dense array of graphene electrodes, offering a powerful alternative to current neural interface technologies. Conventional surface arrays are minimally invasive but struggle to detect signals from deeper brain structures. On the other hand, electrode arrays with penetrating needles provide deeper access but often lead to inflammation and scarring, which can degrade signal quality over time. The Neuro-clear technology developed at UC San Diego combines the strengths of both approaches, allowing it to achieve high-resolution, long-term neural recording with minimal invasiveness.
Neuro-clear—which has so far been used by 12 research labs at UC San Diego, Salk Institute, Boston University, MIT, Columbia, Stanford University and University College London—has already led to new neuroscience discoveries. With the new NIH funding, the team will focus on scaling up fabrication and manufacturing processes to make these advanced neural probes widely accessible to neuroscience researchers worldwide. They will also tailor probe designs for chronic use in both small and large animal models, with the ultimate goal of human translation.
“This technology can be used for so many different fundamental neuroscience investigations, and we are eager to do our part to accelerate progress in better understanding the brain,” said Duygu Kuzum, a professor in Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego and the project’s lead investigator. “By integrating advances in materials, nanofabrication, electrical and optical sensing, and computational methods, we aim to push the boundaries and establish a Moore's Law for neurotechnology development.”
The interdisciplinary effort brings together expertise from multiple research groups across UC San Diego and collaborators at the Salk Institute. In addition to Kuzum, who specializes in neural interfaces, the team includes chemical and nano engineering professor Ertugrul Cubukcu, who develops advanced nanofabrication techniques for graphene materials; bioengineering professor Gert Cauwenberghs, who focuses on CMOS electronics for neural data acquisition; neurobiology and neurosciences professor Takaki Komiyama (UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences and School of Medicine), who studies neuroscience and optical imaging in mice; and Salk Institute professor John Reynolds, who specializes in systems neurobiology, vision and perception in primates.
Together, the team will develop a library of neural probes with higher electrode densities and varying sizes, enabling researchers to record neural activity across large brain areas and deep cortical layers during optical imaging and stimulation experiments in both mice and non-human primates engaged in behavioral tasks.
“Our hope is that these probes will become widely used tools in neuroscience research that will lead us to new neuroscience findings that would otherwise be unattainable,” said Kuzum.
