Motif Neurotech has won a funding grant from the UK government’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to advance its therapeutic brain-computer interface (BCI) technology for treating cognitive and psychiatric conditions.
Intended to help regulate brain states associated with mood, attention, and sleep, Motif’s BCI tech is comprised of a network of millimetre-sized wireless implants that are placed in a patient’s skull during a 20-minute procedure. According to the company, without contacting the brain, each device provides cell-type specific stimulation and electrical recording to regulate brain-wide circuits in a way that meets the needs of each individual patient.
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Described as in the “multimillion dollar” range, Motif will use the funds to develop the device in collaboration with research partners.
A key focus of the technology’s development will be to make it more accessible to patients by designing implantation to be simple, fast, and low risk. Development will also focus on improving the specificity of brain stimulation by targeting specific cell types, which Motif claims may lead to more effective treatments with fewer side effects.
Motif’s collaborators include UK-based MintNeuro, which will develop custom integrated circuits to help miniaturise the BCI’s implants and Kaiyuan Yang, associate professor of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Rice University who will help design circuits for wireless data and power transfer. The Robinson Lab at Rice University will support system integration and testing.
Motif Neurotech CEO Jacob Robinson commented: “We are thrilled to be a part of this important programme.
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By GlobalData“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.”
The award funding originates from ARIA’s $69m-backed Precision Neurotechnologies programme. Sponsored by the UK’s government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), ARIA was established in 2023 with a mission to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs.
Motif Neurotech was founded 2022 after forming through the Rice Biotech Launch Pad accelerator at Rice University in Houston, Texas. In 2024, the company completed an $18.75m Series A financing round.
The BCI space is beginning to heat up. In January 2024, Neuralink implanted the first patient with its brain-computer interface (BCI) following the receipt of an investigational device exemption (IDE) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2023. More recently, the company, which is owned by entrepreneur Elon Musk, announced plans to launch a feasibility trial studying its brain implant linked with an assistive robotic arm.
Also in 2024, Onward Medical won a $1.1m grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to support an ongoing study of its Onward ARC-BCI System to restore thought-driven movement of the hands and arms after spinal cord injury.
