Could a scientist intervene in a brain experiment on the other side of the world without leaving their desk?
Researchers have now demonstrated that possibility by sending commands from Chicago to a wireless brain implant in Daejeon, South Korea, 10,596 kilometers (6,584 miles) away.
The signal traveled through the internet to a computer in the Korean laboratory, which relayed the command wirelessly to the implant. The system responded in an average of about 109 milliseconds.
This intercontinental test was an engineering demonstration: it showed that the device could be operated from another country.
Long-distance control could have a practical role in brain research. When researchers enter an experimental space or approach an animal to operate equipment, their presence may affect its behavior. A remotely activated device could reduce that interference and allow scientists in different locations to participate in the same experiments.
The system, called RAPIDO, was developed by researchers at KAIST and Yonsei University and described in a study published in Science Advances.
Small enough to be carried by a freely moving rat, RAPIDO can perform two different tasks inside the brain. It can deliver a substance through a tiny channel, and it can emit light from a miniature LED. Researchers can control these functions separately and schedule them in advance.
Unlike earlier implants, RAPIDO has a refillable cartridge and can deliver programmed doses and light over the internet.
“Our brain implant allows researchers to carry out repeated, long-term, and remotely controlled drug and optical interventions in freely moving animals without repeatedly handling the animal or replacing the implant through additional surgery,” KAIST electrical engineer Jae-Woong Jeong, who led the study, told ScienceAlert.
“This makes it possible to conduct longitudinal experiments with less direct intervention and reduced influence from experimenter presence.”
After demonstrating the remote connection, the team evaluated these two functions in separate rat experiments.
In the first set of experiments, the researchers tested the drug-delivery system.
The implant delivered different doses of cocaine directly into the nucleus accumbens, a brain region involved in reward-related behavior.
The doses produced corresponding changes in the rats’ movement, and these effects were reproduced two, three, and four weeks after implantation.
This showed that the implant could repeatedly deliver controlled doses and produce measurable behavioral effects over several weeks. It did not test addiction treatment.
The second experiment tested whether light could affect what the rats learned to prefer. It used optogenetics, which makes selected cells or processes within them respond to light. ScienceAlert has previously covered experiments in which artificial neurons communicated with genetically modified living neurons using light.
For this second experiment, cocaine was injected into the rats’ abdomens rather than through the implant, isolating the effect of light alone. Rats given cocaine without light later preferred the compartment associated with the drug.
In another group, light from the implant activated the RhoA signaling pathway during conditioning. These rats did not develop the same preference for the cocaine-associated compartment.
“Together, these experiments demonstrate the platform’s ability to investigate causal links between specific neural manipulations and behavior,” Jeong told ScienceAlert.
The results do not mean the device treated cocaine addiction. These were proof-of-concept experiments in rats, and reducing a learned place preference is different from treating an established addiction.
“The biggest challenge is demonstrating long-term safety and reliability in the human brain,” Jeong told ScienceAlert.
A clinical device would require further testing of its biocompatibility, packaging, drug delivery, and fail-safe controls. Optogenetics would present another challenge because it requires the safe delivery of light-sensitive genes.
“This brain implant is therefore best viewed at this stage as a research platform that could help develop and evaluate future therapeutic strategies, rather than as a clinical device itself,” said Jeong.
Wireless brain implants that deliver drugs and light are not entirely new. Earlier work involving KAIST engineer Jae-Woong Jeong produced smartphone-controlled implants with replaceable drug cartridges for freely moving mice.
RAPIDO’s main advance is bringing several capabilities together: repeatable drug delivery, targeted light stimulation, programmable operation, and control over the internet.
Related: This Incredible Brain Implant Can Decode Inner Thoughts Into Speech
The study therefore produced three clear results. A brain implant in Korea responded to commands sent from the United States. The device repeatedly delivered cocaine for up to four weeks. And in a separate experiment, light activation prevented rats from developing a preference for the cocaine-associated compartment.
Together, those results establish RAPIDO as a remotely operated research tool for changing specific brain processes and measuring the associated behavioral effects.
The research was published in Science Advances.
This article was fact-checked by Fiona MacDonald and edited by Fiona MacDonald. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know.
