The Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) has today announced the recipients of its new £50m Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies funding programme. Two UK DRI researchers have been awarded funding through the programme, which will test radically different ways to access, sense and modulate brain activity without conventional brain surgery, potentially opening up entirely new possibilities for treating neurological conditions at scale.
The projects are 36-month preclinical feasibility studies. Each will test whether a new scientific or engineering approach can work safely and meet the technical requirements needed for future translation.
Some powerful treatments for neurological conditions remain difficult to deliver at scale because they require highly specialised neurosurgery. Deep-brain stimulation, for example, can be effective for some people with Parkinson’s disease, but requires electrodes to be implanted deep inside the brain through the skull by specialist surgical teams.
At least one in six people in the UK lives with a neurological condition. ARIA’s Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies programme will explore whether responsive technologies could ultimately be delivered systemically or through minimally invasive procedures in under 30 minutes in an outpatient setting, reducing the procedural burden of reaching the brain. This represents a fundamentally different vision for treating neurological conditions, moving away from the need to surgically reach specific areas of the brain towards treatments that could one day be delivered through the body's own pathways or other minimally invasive techniques, transforming how and who we can treat.
Ten projects have been funded through the programme, two of which involve UK DRI researchers:
Engineered Immune Cell Neural Interfaces
Led by Prof Soyon Hong (UK DRI at UCL) with Gabriele Lignani (UCL), Andrew Yang (UCSF/Gladstone Institute), Benny Chain (UCL), and Rachel Brown (UCL)
This project is exploring whether the body’s own immune cells could be engineered to find and quiet brain circuits involved in epilepsy.
The idea builds on a principle used in some cancer treatments: immune cells can be adapted to recognise particular molecular targets. Here, the team aims to develop cells that enter the brain, recognise signals associated with overactive circuits and release a protein that reduces excessive neural activity. The goal is to concentrate this effect where it is needed.
Seizures can begin when groups of neurons become abnormally active. The key challenge is identifying reliable molecular signals associated with the circuits where seizures begin, then engineering immune cells to respond selectively. If successful, this approach could one day offer a way to manage epilepsy without brain surgery or an implanted device.
Prof Hong said:
"ARIA’s support allows us to ask an ambitious question: can we engineer the body’s own immune cells to find and quiet overactive brain circuits, without brain surgery? Starting with epilepsy, our goal is to develop a treatment delivered by infusion that acts precisely where it is needed. This is early-stage research, but harnessing living cells to restore healthy brain activity could open a new frontier in treating neurological conditions.”
Endovascular Acoustic Interfaces for Scalable Neural Biomarker Readout
Led by Dr Yunlong Zhao (Imperial College London) with Dr Marco Brancaccio (UK DRI at Imperial), Dr Daniele Dini, Dr Tian Yuan, Dr Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena, Dr Mengxing Tang (all Imperial)
Researchers are using advanced materials to develop tiny sensors that could sit inside blood vessels in the brain and report on nearby brain activity using ultrasound from outside the body.
The sensors would be delivered through a catheter and rest against the vessel wall without blocking blood flow. They would not need batteries or conventional electronics. Instead, nearby brain activity should change the way each sensor reflects ultrasound. A scanner would detect those changes and turn them into a useful readout.
The team is testing whether it can distinguish these signals from the effects of blood flow and movement, and whether the readings match brain activity relevant to conditions such as epilepsy. If successful, the approach could help researchers and clinicians monitor deep or hard-to-reach brain regions without placing recording electrodes into brain tissue.
Dr Brancaccio said:
“By combining engineering innovation with experimental neuroscience, we hope to establish a new approach to monitoring brain activity that could ultimately benefit both fundamental research and clinical applications.”
Jacques Carolan, Programme Director for Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies at ARIA, said:
“Neurotechnology can transform lives, but the burden of getting treatments to the brain limits who can benefit. These ten teams are testing radically different access routes and technologies — from blood vessels, the nasal passage and airways; to engineered cells, nanoparticles and soft robotics. Each is a 36-month feasibility study, so the first question is whether the underlying science and engineering can work. Together, they could establish an entirely new paradigm to access, sense and modulate the brain without conventional brain surgery.”
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