University of Melbourne / Darpa

This neural-recording device, which is implanted into the brain through blood vessels, will make it easier to control artificial limbs from the brain.

The tiny device has been developed by Darpa-funded research, tested in animals, and is set for human trials as soon as 2017. Dubbed a 'stentrode' by the bioengineers who created it, the device will provide a non-invasive way to expand the use of brain-machine interfaces.


Researchers from the University of Melbourne, in a paper published in Nature Biotechnology, used the device to record the brain activity of sheep for 190 days. "Here we demonstrate the feasibility of chronically recording brain activity from within a vein using a passive stent-electrode recording array (stentrode)" the researchers', led by Thomas Oxley, wrote in the paper.

To implant electrodes into the brain, at present, invasive brain surgery is needed, but the the new Darpa-funded research could remove the need for risky procedures. The stentrode makes it way to the brain after being inserted, via a catheter, into a blood vessel in the neck.

The researchers then used real-time imaging to guide the device to the location in the brain where the stentrode expands and attaches itself to the walls of a blood vessel to read the activity of neurons.


The Darpa funded research is the latest attempt by the agency to increase the ease of use of brain-machine interfaces.

In 2013 the agency created an artificial limb, which communicates directly with the wearer's neural system. Building on this previous work the agency revealed a prosthetic hand that connected directly to the brain in September 2015. The prosthetic hand allowed a 28-year-old paralysed volunteer to "feel" physical sensations for the first time in ten years.

In December 2014 BrainGate, a research group of experts from leading US universities, created a system that allowed an almost fully paralysed woman to control a prosthetic limb to complete basic tasks such raising and drinking from a glass.