{"id":489911,"date":"2025-10-11T02:47:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T02:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/489911\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T02:47:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T02:47:31","slug":"inside-the-british-bet-on-a-live-implant-cure-for-parkinsons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/489911\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the British bet on a \u2018live implant\u2019 cure for Parkinson\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parkinson\u2019s disease has long been a study in frustration. The tremors that affect patients stem from a shortage of dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain. Drugs can top up supplies and bring temporary relief, but they do nothing to repair the faulty circuits that cause the loss in the first place.<\/p>\n

Deep-brain stimulators \u2014 metal electrodes that jolt neurons with electricity \u2014 can also help, but often only for a time. Scar tissue eventually builds around the implants, muffling their signals and blunting their effect.<\/p>\n

A new approach is now gaining attention: the replacement of the damaged dopamine circuits with \u201cliving implants\u201d. The first prototypes have been created from lab-grown brain cells which have been modified so that they can be controlled electronically.<\/p>\n

Britain has quietly become one of the most ambitious backers of this kind of \u201cbiohybrid\u201d technology. The Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) \u2014 a government body set up to fund science \u201con the edge of the possible\u201d \u2014 is bankrolling what may be the most audacious effort yet to make the idea a reality.<\/p>\n

\"Top-down<\/p>\n

Filaments of genetically-engineered cells produce dopamine in the brain<\/p>\n

Among those being supported is Kacy Cullen, a neurosurgeon and bioengineer at the University of Pennsylvania, whose group is getting a share of the \u00a369 million Aria is investing in \u201cprecision neurotechnologies\u201d. His team is cultivating strands of nerve tissue no thicker than a human hair made entirely from lab-grown brain cells, or neurons.<\/p>\n

The plan is to insert these living fibres into the brains of Parkinson\u2019s patients. The neurons are genetically modified to respond to light. They will release dopamine when stimulated with specific wavelengths.<\/p>\n

A miniature LED device, smaller than a grain of rice and designed by Cullen\u2019s collaborator, Professor Flavia Vitale, would sit just beneath the skull \u2014 on the brain\u2019s surface, but not inside it \u2014 and direct light to the implants when required. By prompting the cells to secrete dopamine on cue, the therapy should ease the movement problems that are a hallmark of the disease.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A tiny device, smaller than a grain of rice, controls the implant<\/p>\n

Unlike the metal electrodes used for traditional brain implants, which can provoke scarring and rejection, these biological fibres could be derived from a patient\u2019s own skin cells, or from mass-produced cell lines engineered not to rile the recipient\u2019s immune system. If successful, they could integrate seamlessly into brain tissue and function for years.<\/p>\n

Cullen\u2019s research overlaps with the efforts of Elon Musk\u2019s \u201cbrain chip\u201d company Neuralink<\/a>, which is embedding ultrafine metal electrodes \u2014 gold or platinum conductors embedded in polymer threads \u2014 into the brains of trial participants.<\/p>\n

By monitoring the electrical activity of his brain, the Neuralink system has enabled a paralysed man to control a cursor with his thoughts<\/a>. Yet Cullen argues that living implants hold far greater promise. Unlike Neuralink\u2019s passive electrodes, lab-grown cells could form synaptic connections with their natural neighbours.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

A team run by Kacy Cullen, right, is cultivating strands of nerve tissue no thicker than a human hair<\/p>\n

They would not just listen to the brain, but converse with it, passing information back and forth.<\/p>\n

For Parkinson\u2019s, the target is dopamine production in the brain\u2019s striatum region, where the deficit lies. But similar implants may calm epileptic seizures, rebuild circuits after a stroke or spinal injury or even provide sensory feedback to prosthetic limbs.<\/p>\n

At Imperial College London, Professor Rylie Green \u2014 whose group is also being backed by Aria \u2014 has her sights on Alzheimer\u2019s. The vision is to use implants derived from patients\u2019 own skin cells. The cells would be coaxed first into becoming stem cells and then brain cells. They would also be modified to respond to light and electrical cues. Her ambition is to replace withered brain tissue in regions vital to memory.<\/p>\n

\"Kacy<\/p>\n

Cullen\u2019s team is getting a share of the \u00a369 million Aria is investing in \u201cprecision neurotechnologies\u201d<\/p>\n

In another Aria-funded project, George Malliaras, the Prince Philip professor of technology at the University of Cambridge, is looking at introducing tiny clusters \u2014 or organoids \u2014 of lab-grown, dopamine-producing cells into the brain. Electric pulses would be applied to coax them to forge connections with the natural tissue. <\/p>\n

Jacques Carolan, Aria\u2019s programme director for precision neurotechnologies, oversees these biohybrid investments. \u201cDisorders of wiring [inside the brain] underpin so many neurological and psychiatric conditions,\u201d he said. He envisages a future where lab-grown neurons can be nudged to make precisely the right connections to restore mangled circuits. \u201cThat\u2019s the ultimate vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, all of this remains in the laboratory. Cullen estimates that it will be at least five to seven years before human trials could begin for his living dopamine implant, and longer still before any therapy won regulatory clearance.<\/p>\n

Scaling up the manufacture of viable tissue, and ensuring it is safe, will be challenging. Even so, he is confident of the trajectory. After decades of pushing metal into the brain, researchers are turning to living technology. \u201cI really think this is the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parkinson\u2019s disease has long been a study in frustration. The tremors that affect patients stem from a shortage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-489911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115353252872804046","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}