A research team led by Professor Jae-Woong Jeong and PhD candidate Choong Yeon Kim from the School of Electrical Engineering has developed a brain implant device that can be charged wirelessly and controlled using a smartphone. The research was conducted in collaboration with Professor Jung Hoon Kim’s research team from the Yonsei University Medical School. The results of the study were published in Nature Communications on January 22 under the title “Soft subdermal implant capable of wireless battery charging and programmable controls for applications in optogenetics”.

This invention was improved from the wireless neural device made by the team in 2019.  In the previous version, a drug-dispensing cartridge was externally attached on the head, with only the delivery probes implanted. The new version of the biomedical device only weighs 1.4 grams and is fully implanted into the scalp, with thin probes inserted into the brain. Soft and flexible polymers were used to minimize the damage to tissues. The optogenetics technology utilized allows for manipulation of the behavior and emotion of the experiment subject. A smartphone application controls the LED light emitted from the probes, which stimulate neural circuits. Experiments conducted by Professor Jeong’s team revealed that symptoms such as anxiety in a cocaine-exposed mouse were restrained by applying patterns of light to specific target neurons in the brain. Furthermore, the batteries can be charged wirelessly through the use of an alternating magnetic field to generate electricity in a circuit consisting of a wireless energy harvester, a coil antenna, and a Bluetooth low-energy chip.

The device is deemed significant for its potential applications in long-term animal experimentation required for studying the brain, as surgical processes are not required to replace the battery and animals would not be restricted in movement. It is also expected that this technology can be used in the treatment of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and drug addiction. Further research is to be carried out to extend the utilization of this technology to humans. Professor Jeong expects that “the same basic technology can be applied to various types of implants, including deep brain stimulators, and cardiac and gastric pacemakers, to reduce the burden on patients for long-term use within the body.”