UK's revolutionary brain chip set for first clinical trial in tumor surgery

A groundbreaking device is set to revolutionize the surgical treatment of brain tumors, with its first clinical trial underway in the UK, The Guardian highlights.

The device aimed at changing the surgical approach to brain tumors is poised for its inaugural clinical trial, which researchers believe could lead to a significant advancement in medicine. This brain chip is capable of detecting cancer cells by analyzing the differences in their electrical emissions compared to healthy neural tissue.  

Roughly the size of a postage stamp, the device is constructed from graphene, a material that is 200 times stronger than steel and just one atom thick. Graphene was developed two decades ago by scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at Manchester University, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for their pioneering work.

Since then, researchers have been striving to harness the exceptional conductive qualities of graphene to create new electrical and magnetic sensors and various devices. However, the flexible brain chip currently undergoing trials at Salford Royal Hospital is being celebrated as a pioneering achievement in medicine.

“This is the first ever clinical trial to be performed anywhere in the world with a graphene-based medical device,” stated Kostas Kostarelos, a professor of nanomedicine at Manchester and one of the team leaders.

The brain-computer interface (BCI) device has been developed by an international team of scientists to revolutionize the monitoring of electrical impulses in brain cells by utilizing previously undetectable frequencies. 

“Its first use will be to differentiate cancer cells from healthy cells to ensure that surgery on brain tumours is directed in a highly accurate way,” explained Kostarelos.

This objective is critically important, according to medical professionals. Each year, over 12,700 individuals in the UK receive a brain tumor diagnosis, leading to more than 5,000 deaths attributed to the condition.

“Anything we can do to improve these rates will be a major achievement,” he noted.

The team behind the BCI device also believes it will aid scientists in studying various other conditions, including stroke and epilepsy, by providing deeper insights into how electrical signals are transmitted by healthy cells compared to those affected by disease. 

By Naila Huseynova