China researchers build neuron-enlarging brain device using genetic engineering

Chinese scientists have proposed that genetic engineering could one day be used to alter the brain’s neurons as a way of improving the quality of signal transmission in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology.

The researchers, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), implanted sensors into a mouse’s brain that carried a genetic instruction to make the neurons larger and easier to “read”.

According to the study published in peer-reviewed journal Advanced Materials, the experiments showed the implant – which suppresses the expression of genes that restrict neuron growth – improved brain cell health as well as BCI connections.

The researchers said the results showed the approach could one day improve the quality of signal transmission in existing BCI technologies – such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink – in therapeutic settings and in using the mind to directly control devices.

BCI headache