Innovative Use of Silk Protein in BCI Development by a Shanghai-based Scientist

In the realm of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), the United States and China have each carved out distinct paths in their research and development approaches, reflecting their unique strengths and strategic focuses.

Although I am not an expert in this field, I have conducted some interviews and followed developments from time to time. From my perspective, the development of BCI requires a strong foundation in chip design, materials science, and electronic engineering.

The United States has long been a pioneer in BCI technology, with significant investments and advancements in both invasive and semi-invasive techniques. Companies like Neuralink, led by Elon Musk, have pushed the boundaries of high-density, implantable BCI devices, aiming for high precision and bandwidth in neural signal acquisition. Neuralink's approach involves direct cortical implants.

China, on the other hand, has made remarkable strides in recent years, particularly in non-invasive and minimally invasive BCI technologies. A notable achievement came recently when NeuroXess, based in Shanghai, and Fudan University's Huashan Hospital successfully completed the first clinical trial of a high-throughput implantable flexible BCI in China. This trial marked the world's first real-time encoding and decoding of Mandarin Chinese using a BCI, demonstrating significant potential for language restoration in patients.

Here's more information about the new breakthrough of NeuroXess:
Brain-computer interface makes breakthrough by deciphering Chinese speech in brain - Xinhua

Additionally, China has a substantial number of patents in BCI optimization design and signal classification, indicating a focus on refining existing technologies for practical applications.

In terms of policy support, the U.S. has had a head start with initiatives like the BRAIN Initiative, which has channeled significant funding into BCI research since 2013. China's "Brain Plan" was launched in 2021, emphasizing both fundamental research and practical applications, particularly in the medical field.

Luckily, earlier this week, I got the chance to interview Tao Hu, the chief scientist from NeuroXess, to delve into the fascinating world of brain-computer interfaces. I'd like to share some excerpts from the interviews. I hope you will find them interesting.

Q: How did you come up with the idea of using silk protein as a biomaterial? Are there similar concepts or research abroad?

A: I've tried different materials, and we found that the best material actually comes from nature. Our requirements are very unique. For example, we need it to be safe enough and strong enough. It also has to last long enough during the entire lifetime of implantation. It has to be just strong enough to penetrate the brain without breaking blood vessels. All these elements add up together. Then we found that silk protein might be the ideal choice, because silk is one of the strongest fibers and the most abundant natural protein available. We extract silk protein from silk fibers and turn it into different formats. In this case, we turned it into film coatings. We use this protein as a coating layer for our flexible neural probe and insert it into the brain. During implantation, the probe itself is very robust. After implantation, the coating dissolves and degrades by itself into byproducts of amino acids and peptides. That's why we chose silk, and we are very happy with that choice.

Q: What are your thoughts on Elon Musk's role in the BCI field?

A: I have mixed feelings about him. I think he has a great mind, and he has a lot of ambitious goals, many of which have come true. Neuralink is the company he started in the field of biotechnology, and I think he must have a very good reason for that. My guess is that BCI is the most important tool in the field of biotechnology. I believe Elon Musk is a very good engineer. I'm not saying he is a very good scientist, because I don't think he has that kind of training. In terms of planning his schedule, adjusting his objectives, and executing them with all the resources he can get, he is very skilled. He also knows how to sell his story and convince people and investors that it is doable within a reasonable time frame. That's what I admire about him and what we want to learn from him. On the other hand, every company has its own goals in terms of commercialization and making a profit. We don't have as many resources as he does, so we have to balance our scientific goals with our company's profit plans. Fortunately, our investors have given us enough patience to pursue our goals so far.

Q: Have you ever considered giving up or experienced self-doubt?

A: The brain has the most sensitive immune response to implantation, which means we chose the most difficult path for our research project. The challenges, both technical and psychological, can sometimes make us worried and anxious. But I always tell myself and my team that I know this is hard, but we never do anything easy. If it were easy, it wouldn't be our job.

Q: Speaking of your recent significant milestone, were you nervous the first time you implanted a BCI into a human brain?

A: We have conducted so many different experiments to test and verify its safety and functionality. I knew it would be okay. But you never know, right? Until you really see it working. So it was a mixed feeling. I was quite nervous and thrilled, and eventually very happy about the positive result.

Q: How do you ensure that a specific brainwave corresponds to a Chinese syllable across different individuals? Does this hold true for different dialects as well?

A: Everyone speaks differently, so there will be tiny differences. However, we can try to summarize the common patterns between different people. We have seen something very promising in this regard. There will be differences among individuals, but there will also be common features. What we try to do is extract the most common features from these different individuals. The demonstration of using BCI technology to decode the Chinese language in real-time is very remarkable, because language is an advanced function of humans compared to other species. If you can decode language, you can do a lot of things. Now, we are trying to demonstrate that BCI is not only a medical device, but in the future, normal people may use it to enhance their communication efficiency and skills. That's what we are aiming to do.

Q: When people hear about your work, they often imagine futuristic scenarios, such as directly uploading knowledge into the brain or humans being controlled by machines. How do you respond to such discussions?

A: I've been asked a lot of similar questions. It is very doable in terms of motion decoding and reconstruction. We can use that mechanism for motion decoding. But for knowledge, I cannot give you a definite answer, because that is on a different level of complexity. In principle, I think it is doable, but I don't think it will happen in the near future, not within 5 to 10 years. I'm thinking it will take much longer than that.

Q: What is the biggest challenge in advancing BCI technology?

A: We still lack a real-time connection between different regions of our brains and aligning that with different tasks or functionalities of the brain.

Q: What are your next steps?

A: We focus on patients who suffer heavily from disabilities due to brain functionality issues. It has to go through some kind of strict rules and procedures to get approval for clinical use. So we are working towards that. And so far, we are doing pretty well in terms of the time scale. If I had to give a number, we should be able to see something on the market probably in 3 to 4 years. People with diseases like Parkinson's or ALS will be able to use our products as standard medical devices.

Q: How will brain-computer interfaces transform people's lives in the next 30 to 50 years?

A: Thirty to fifty years is really a long time. I don't think we need that much time to accomplish what we are trying to do. The key milestone for our group is not only to use BCI to cure patients' brain diseases, but also to enable those using BCI technology, especially our products, to achieve something better than normal people. It's not hard to restore their functionality and show their potential. In fact, BCI technology can even enable them to perform better than normal people.