Graphene, known as the ‘dream material’, has emerged as the key to unlocking the mystery of the brain. If you make a ‘graphene chip’ using its excellent electrical conductivity and thin, curved flexibility and attach it to the surface of the brain, you will understand in detail the signals sent out by the brain. Researchers around the world are excited because British scientists have announced that they had succeeded in the first clinical trial related to them.
The key to brain tumor surgery is to carefully remove cancer cells that have invaded normal brain tissue. It is estimated that the use of a graphene brain chip will open a new era in brain tumor surgery by making it possible to ‘accurately select cancer cells.’
According to the science and technology community on the 4th, a brain slice transplant surgery was recently performed on a brain tumor patient at Royal Salford Hospital in the UK. Part of the patient’s skull was removed, and a very thin slice with a thickness of 0.3 nanometers (1 nm is about 1/50,000 the thickness of a hair) was placed on the surface of the brain.
Costas Costareros (Professor of Nanomedicine, University of Manchester, UK), founder of ‘InBrain Neuroelectronics’ in Spain, a brain chip developer, said, “A graphene-based brain-brain computer interface (BCI) can be used to distinguish normal brain cells from unusual. cancer cells used the device. “This is the first clinical trial of its kind in the world,” he said.
The chip has thousands of electrical contacts, about the size of a postage stamp. When brain signals are read through this contact point, the accompanying transmitter sends related information to the outside, which can be interpreted to differentiate between normal brain tissue and cancer cells. The greatest achievement in this research is that brain signals have been identified with micrometer-level precision (㎛·1㎛ is 1/1 millionth of a meter). Since the thickness of spider web layers is usually 3 to 8㎛, this means that it is possible to distinguish between normal cells from cancer cells as precisely as looking at cells through a microscope.
There are approximately 86 billion nerve cells in the human brain. These nerve cells are connected to each other through synapses. Every time a person moves, feels something, or thinks, a small electrical impulse is generated and transmitted incredibly quickly from one nerve cell to another. BCI is an interface that connects the human brain and the computer by encoding this system and sending signals to the computer.
Neuralink, led by Elon Musk, is considered a production company that is trying to make BCI a reality. The scientific community aims to increase the accuracy and resolution of decoding brain signals without damaging the brain. Most attempts to read brain signals are made by attaching electrodes to the surface of the brain, but the disadvantage is that the accuracy and decoding resolution are lower as opposed to implanting electrodes inside the brain.
The InBrain Neuroelectronics research team focused on a new material called graphene. “When graphene is used as an electrode, it has low resistance, so there is less noise when reading signals,” said Cho Il-ju, a brain chip researcher and senior -professor at Korea University School of Medicine also used as electrodes, but there is no material that matches the performance of graphene. “” he explained. Professor Cho said, “It is difficult for graphene to remain stable in the body,” and he added, “It can be said that it has entered clinical trials to partially prove the safety of graphene in terms of how poisonous it is.”
Just discovering this stuff was enough to win a Nobel Prize. Konstantin Novoselov, a professor at the National University of Singapore (formerly a professor at the University of Manchester, England) who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010, discovered graphene by binding and removing graphite , pencil lead material, with Scotch tape several times. Graphite is a material made by bonding graphene directly into layers. He succeeded in separating graphene from graphite.
Professor Novoselov is currently a member of the advisory board of Inbrain Neuroelectronics. He said, “Graphene’s outstanding properties open up new horizons in medical technology,” and “This clinical trial could lead to positive results.”
It has been confirmed that the brain chip implanted during this clinical trial is working normally. Until now, it has been difficult to identify brain cell signals with high or low frequency, but it has been proven that all these signals are detected. The Inbrain Neuroelectronics research team explained, “We are accurately understanding a wide range of electrical signals in the brain. “
This clinical trial is important because it is the first clinical trial of a brain chip using graphene. In addition to InBrain Neuroelectronics, several research teams are developing brain chips using graphene. The company plans to implant brain chips in about 10 patients in this clinical trial. It is expected to significantly improve our understanding of how electrical signals are transmitted in healthy cells compared to brain tumor cells. Based on this, it is expected to be helpful in the study of various other diseases, including stroke and epilepsy.
According to the Korean Brain Tumor Association, 2,500 to 4,500 brain tumor patients occur every year in Korea. It is estimated that around 20,000 people suffer from brain tumors, and the 5-year survival rate for brain tumor patients is 65%, which is lower than the rate of other cancers.
2024-11-04 20:58:00
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