This new technology may aid people with specific problems related to the brain. Penn Medicine experts and colleagues have seemingly crafted a brain implant that could basically melt into place, thereby comfortably fitting into the brain’s surface.
The technology could make way for enhanced devices to supervise and control seizures, and to convey signals from the brain past impaired portions of the spinal cord. The ultrathin flexible implants, crafted partially from silk, may document brain activity more authentically as compared to thicker implants entrenched with similar electronics.
Coauthors Brian Litt, MD, associate professor of Neurology and associate professor of Bioengineering in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, and PhD student Jonathan Viventi, commented, “The focus of our study was to make ultrathin arrays that conform to the complex shape of the brain, and limit the amount of tissue damage and inflammation.â€
The silk-based implants, created by Dr. Litt and colleagues at Tufts University and the University of Illinois, could embrace the brain such as shrink wrap, thus breaking into its grooves and stretching over its rounded surfaces.
The study was published in Nature Materials.