Ability Neurotech, a clinical-stage brain-computer interface (BCI) company, today announced the first-in-human procedure for its BCI technology. Conducted at the Department for Neurosurgery at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) University Hospital Rechts der Isar, the procedure marks the first real-world validation of Ability's neural signal acquisition in a live surgical setting.
The study is led by Drs Wagner, Meyer and Jacob at the Department of Neurosurgery and Laboratory for Translational Neurotechnology, TUM University Hospital Rechts der Isar, TUM School of Medicine and Health. It will involve up to five individuals undergoing brain tumor surgery and in addition will capture neural data during 20–30 minutes of intraoperative recording for each patient. Initial patients underwent end-to-end system validation and signal acquisition while under general anesthetic. The next stages of the study will target neural decoding under similar surgical conditions, with conscious patients engaging in speech and motor tasks.
"This procedure, recording neural data from humans for the first time, is a key milestone for Ability and our mission to enable safe and ethical long-term BCI implantations," said Rotem Kopel, PhD, CEO of Ability Neurotech, in a statement. "The real-world validation of our signal acquisition system to capture high-quality neural data in patients brings us another step closer to restoring communication, movement and autonomy for those living with paralysis and speech loss."
Ability Neurotech's fully implantable BCI is designed to capture raw, high-resolution brain signals and transmit massive amounts of lossless data at significantly higher bandwidth compared to standard Bluetooth-based systems. Its minimally invasive and patient-centric design is engineered for long-term implantation while maintaining high-fidelity neural data capture.
"This research allows us to capture known neural phenomena, including evoked potentials and high-gamma activity, and benchmark Ability's signal quality against established clinical electrophysiology systems," said Simon Jacob, MD, Professor of Translational Neurotechnology at the Department of Neurosurgery of TUM University Hospital Rechts der Isar. "Establishing this scientific basis is what will allow brain-computer interface technology to mature responsibly from research into a reliable clinical tool."
Conducted at one of Europe's leading neurosurgery departments, this project marks Ability's entry into the clinical stage. The successful generation of Ability's first human neural dataset in this early feasibility testing will be followed by the company's first long-term implantation study.
