Tag: ALS

10 articles

Industry News

ABILITY Neurotech opens Munich intraoperative BCI trial

Geneva-based ABILITY Neurotech has run a first-in-human intraoperative trial of its fully implantable brain-computer interface at TUM University Hospital in Munich, with up to five brain tumour surgery patients recorded over 20 to 30 minute sessions. A chronic ALS implant with UMC Utrecht and TU Graz is scheduled for Q4 2026. The device is an ECoG surface-electrode implant powered inductively through the scalp, using a laser-based optical link to move raw high-bandwidth neural data through intact skin, not an optical neural-sensing BCI.

Aug 22

Market Moves

Six-month-old Chinese BCI startup raises RMB 330 million angel round

Shanghai Active Technology, founded February 2026, closed a RMB 330 million angel round announced on 3 August 2026. Gasgoo and 36Kr describe the raise as the largest single angel round in the Chinese BCI sector to date, though the lead investor was not disclosed. The company is building a full-link invasive BCI with three product lines including a 1024-channel motor system called Tianshu, which has obtained a type inspection report and is preparing to launch clinical trials.

Aug 5

Industry News

Neuralink performs its first transdural implant on a Canadian ALS patient

Sgt Lee Marten of the Vancouver Police Department received a Neuralink N1 implant at Toronto Western Hospital on 20 May 2026, becoming the first Canadian ALS patient in the CAN-PRIME trial and the first human anywhere to receive the implant via Neuralink's new transdural surgical technique that preserves the dura rather than cutting it open. The story was broken by CBC News and MobiHealthNews on 2 July 2026.

Jul 4

Industry News

A Michigan woman with motor neuron disease has received the first Paradromics Connexus brain implant

Paradromics announced on 17 June 2026 that University of Michigan surgeons have implanted its Connexus brain-computer interface in a woman with motor neuron disease, the first patient in the FDA-approved Connect-One early feasibility study. She will be followed for six years.

Jun 17

Research

A man with ALS has used his speech brain implant at home for nearly two years, mostly on his own

Casey Harrell, who has ALS, used a UC Davis intracortical speech BCI at home for more than 3,800 hours over 22 months without researchers present. Nature Medicine published the case on 15 June 2026.

Jun 16

Research

Macaque BCI Navigates Virtual Forest With a Single Fixed Decoder Across Task Switches

A KU Leuven team led by Peter Janssen trained three rhesus macaques to pilot avatars through virtual environments using implanted multi-array BCIs, with premotor cortex outperforming primary motor cortex and a single fixed decoder generalising across perspectives, avatars, and dynamic targets.

Apr 22

Industry News

Synchron Returns to Melbourne for First Trial of Next-Generation Stentrode

The FOCUS-AU trial will test Synchron's advanced brain-computer interface in ten MND patients across three Australian hospitals, with surgery beginning in April.

Mar 25

Industry News

China's Beinao-1 Reaches Five Patients With Semi-Invasive Brain Chip

Five patients now carry the coin-sized wireless implant that sits on the brain's protective membrane rather than penetrating tissue, with one ALS patient decoding nearly 100 Chinese words.

Mar 24

Research

Brain Implants Malfunction at Night, Dutch Study Reveals Critical Gap in Round-the-Clock BCI Use

A UMC Utrecht study found that a brain-computer interface trained on daytime neural signals produced 245 false commands per hour when the patient slept, exposing a fundamental problem for 24/7 assistive devices.

Mar 22

Research

BrainGate BCI Restores Typing at 22 Words Per Minute for Paralysed Patients

A brain-computer interface developed by Mass General Brigham and Brown University enabled two paralysed individuals to type at speeds rivalling able-bodied texting, with a word error rate of just 1.6 per cent.

Mar 16

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