Brain Hacking With A Purpose

Key Takeaways

• Exciting startup Synchron offers a revolutionary brain-computer interface solution for people with paralysis and other conditions
• Clinical trial demonstrates their non-invasive brain procedure could change the lives of many with severe disabilities
• Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos invested in Synchron’s latest funding round, which raised $75m

When a medical technology company receives the first-ever Investigational Device Authorisation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), you know they’re onto something incredible. That’s exactly what happened with Synchron, a company that believes its medical device can improve the quality of life of people with paralysis.

This groundbreaking piece of medical tech is part of the growing brain-computer interface (BCI) world, an industry that garnered media attention thanks to Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Let’s learn more about Synchron and this revolutionary tech.

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Synchron’s brain implant device explained

When you hear about scientists implanting devices, perhaps you think about pacemakers regulating heartbeats or a wacky scientist creating a real-life Frankenstein.

All medical innovations require inquisitive minds that aren’t afraid to push scientific boundaries and scare the general population a little. And there’s nothing like a brain-computer interfacing to get people worried about mind control and mind reading.

Thankfully, we’re looking at a startup company that’s controlling your brain for good: Synchron and its Switch device.

While you’ve probably heard of the Nintendo Switch, the Synchron Switch is an entirely different ballgame. While it may not have Animal Crossing with Tom Nook’s capitalistic approach, this BCI technology is incredibly powerful.

It aims to improve the lives of people with paralysis and other disabilities by allowing them to control things directly with their brains. Yes, almost like telekinesis, but without the pseudoscience. You can be a wizard for real this time!

On a serious note, it’s hard to imagine how isolating it must be to be unable to use technology to talk to your loved ones or turn on a light. Synchron is giving people hope by opening up the ability to use the things that many of us take for granted. That’s definitely worth learning about.

Who makes up Synchron?

Don’t worry; these aren’t just tech bros who think they’ve discovered something awesome, busy squandering millions of dollars from investors. Synchron’s leadership team has worked on its neuroscience technology since 2012, tapping into their combined decades of knowledge in the arena.

CEO and founder, Thomas Oxley, is trained as a vascular and interventional neurologist, and CTO Nick Opie is a biomedical engineer and world expert in neural interfaces. Other leadership team members boast years of biomedical engineering and neuroscience experience. We’re in good (and hopefully not shaky) hands.

How does the Switch work?

Synchron’s team has embraced the ‘natural highways of the brain’ and endovascular procedures to create their novel device. As these procedures are inside (endo) the blood vessel (vascular), they’re minimally invasive and come with reduced risk and recovery time than open brain surgery. That means they don’t even have to shave your head. No cap, literally. (Are we cool yet?)

This also means the surgery is more accessible to people as they’ll require an interventionist rather than a neurosurgeon, according to Senior Director Peter Yoo.

Interventionists insert the Synchron device through blood vessels, delivering the stentrode™ to the vein alongside the motor cortex to transmit its signals. Of course, it’s not just as simple as inserting a stent: Synchron has created an entire BCI system.

The node contains a sensor-packed stent called the stentrode™ and the receiver-transmitter unit that goes in the chest under the skin. This records the brain’s motor cortex signals and transmits data wirelessly to external devices.

The axon translates raw brain signals from the node into standard commands that work with any Bluetooth device. Cool or what?

Brain.io™ is the end-user software, thought-controlled platform that uses translated brain signals to carry out actions.

So far, Synchron’s innovation has reached pre-clinical and clinical stages, and we’re seeing exciting developments from their SWITCH clinical trial.

A world first

A brain-altering device permanently placed into your body via the jugular vein in your neck might sound pretty wild and sci-fi-esque, but the results so far are thrilling. One of their SWITCH patients, Philip O’Keefe, was the first person in the world to tweet using a BCI device, sending out a simple, “hello, world! Short tweet. Monumental progress” from founder Oxley’s Twitter account.

O’Keefe has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND). You may remember the Ice Bucket Challenge from halcyon days gone by—an internet challenge that actually had a point—raising awareness of ALS.

This motor disorder means it’s hard for people with the condition to control and use their muscles, meaning that a BCI could be incredibly valuable for their quality of life and independence.

It’s exciting to see that non-invasive, potentially life-changing options may become available for people with certain conditions, including paralysis, epilepsy, and brain injuries.

High-profile investors

Synchron raised an impressive $75m in their Series C funding round, including investments from Amazon and Microsoft. Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates clearly see the potential of this device, and according to Reuters, they’re not alone.

They reported that Elon Musk approached Synchron about a potential investment, but both sides remain cagey on the details. Musk’s Neuralink isn’t yet FDA-approved for human clinical trials, but he’s submitted the paperwork. Although, with how long the FDA takes to approve things (and rightfully so), he’ll probably have colonized Mars by then.

It’s easy to see why the world’s billionaires are excited about jumping on this novel technology. Yes, this may seem like something out of your favorite sci-fi film, but we’ve seen things in the last decade that we couldn’t have anticipated.

Eat your heart out, Nostradamus! And what’s to say that Synchron won’t change the lives of many?

The bottom line

With constant exciting advancements in the tech space, it’s hard not to get excited about its potential impact on humanity and improving our lives. Synchron is just one of many companies working towards a better future for everyone.

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