A wirelessly powered chip has been designed by researchers

A wirelessly powered chip, which can be surgically implanted to read neural signals and stimulate the brain using light and electrical current, has been designed by researchers.

The objective was to develop a tool to help better understand the actions of different brain regions, especially in response to neural stimulation.

Via applying an electromagnetic field, researchers can power the 5×3 mm2 chip, which has an integrated power receiver coil. In laboratory experiments, the electromagnetic field engulfed the cage of each rat, ensuring the system was wholly operated, regardless of what the rat was doing. In addition, the chip can receive and send information wirelessly.

The technology can perform optical stimulation by shining light on the brain tissue, in addition to reading neuronal signals in targeted regions of the brain and stimulating the brain by injecting a small electrical current into the brain tissue.

An assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of a paper on the work, Yaoyao Jia, stated: “This tool will help us answer fundamental questions that could then pave the way for advances in addressing neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. When you use electrical stimulation, you have little control over where the electrical current goes. But with optical stimulation, you can be far more precise because you have only modified those neurons that you want to target in order to make them sensitive to light. This is an active field of research in neuroscience, but the field has lacked the electronic tools it needs to move forward. That’s where this work comes in.”