
The U.K.’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) awarded the grant to develop BCI technology to treat cognitive and psychiatric conditions. It comes as part of ARIA’s Precision Neurotechnologies program, led by program director Jacques Carolan.
Houston-based Motif Neurotech’s lead product is the DOT microstimulator. The company designed its miniature brain pacemaker to precisely stimulate the brain. It restores healthy circuit activity to treat mental health disorders. The pea-sized implant, which goes in during a 20-minute outpatient procedure, has capabilities for at-home therapy. Motif Neurotech was one of MassDevice’s 7 neurotech companies you need to know in 2024.
Analysts last fall included the company in a list of BCI makers poised to take advantage of a significant market opportunity as well.
“We are thrilled to have been to be a part of this important program,” said Jacob Robinson, CEO of Motif Neurotech. “This funding will allow us to accelerate our efforts to develop a general-purpose platform capable of accurately monitoring and regulating mental and cognitive states. The brain is an electrical organ. We believe that mental and cognitive disorders will be best treated by interacting with the brain in its native language.”
In 2023, Robinson explained how Motif designed its brain pacemaker to Medical Design & Outsourcing — read here.
More about what the grant means for Motif Neurotech
According to a news release, the funding could enable technology to have a profound impact on the treatment of cognitive, neurological, and psychiatric conditions. It could help regulate brain states associate with mood, attention and sleep.
Motif Neurotech said part of the award focuses on making the technology more accessible to patients. The company plans to design a simple, rapid and low-risk implantation process. It also plans to look at improving the specificity of brain stimulation by targeting specific cell types. This could lead to more effective treatments with fewer side effects.
The company’s BCI features a network of millimeter-sized wireless implants placed during the skull during a 20-minute procedure. Cosmetically, the implant is invisible. Without contacting the brain, the company aims for each device to provide cell-type-specific stimulation and electrical recording.
Arrays like these from Motif Neurotech could span the entire cortical surface. This would enable regulation of brain-wide circuits in a way that meets the needs of each patient.
Motif Neurotech plans to collaborate with a number of research partners under the grant to develop the technology. It expects UK startup MintNeuro to develop custom integrated circuits to help miniaturize the implants. Kaiyuan Yang, an associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Rice University, will help design circuits for efficient wireless data and power transfer.
The Robinson Lab at Rice intends to support system integration and testing. Valentin Dragoi, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice, the Rosemary and Daniel J. Harrison III Presidential Distinguished Chair in Neuroprosthetics at Houston Methodist and professor of neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College, will lead the preclinical animal studies.