Korean researchers remotely control brain implant from US, ushering in IoT era for neuroscience

Researchers in South Korea have successfully controlled a brain implant in Daejeon in real time from Chicago — thousands of kilometers away. The team developed technology capable of delivering drugs to the brain and stimulating specific neurons with light from a remote location.

KAIST announced Thursday that a research team led by Professor Jeong Jae-woong of the Department of Electrical Engineering and a team led by Professor Kim Hwa-young of Yonsei University College of Medicine jointly developed a wireless neural implant based on the Internet of Things (IoT) that integrates drug delivery, light stimulation, wireless communication and internet-based remote control into a single device.

Conventional brain research has often relied on equipment connected to animals via complex wiring to deliver drugs or stimulate neurons. This made it difficult to observe natural behavior in freely moving subjects.

Even wireless devices required researchers to operate them in close proximity to the test animals, imposing significant constraints on distance and experimental conditions.

To overcome these limitations, the team connected the brain implant to the internet.

The device allows researchers to administer drugs or apply light stimulation to specific neurons at a chosen time, even when they are not in the laboratory. It can also operate automatically according to a pre-programmed schedule.

Inside the device, a microfluidic system delivers drugs to targeted brain regions, while a miniature LED modulates specific neurons using light. Because the drug and light functions can be controlled independently, the device can deliver two distinct modes of brain stimulation simultaneously.

The team also designed the drug reservoir to be replaceable. When the stored drug runs out, researchers can replenish it by swapping a cartridge rather than reimplanting the device. The implant also incorporates a backflow-prevention structure and an adjustable pump to regulate dosage.

The team validated the device's performance in freely moving mice, successfully delivering drugs wirelessly while simultaneously modulating specific brain signals with light. In cocaine conditioning experiments, the researchers confirmed that repeated drug modulation and independent optogenetic stimulation were both achievable.

Perhaps most significantly, the technology breaks down the distance barrier in brain research. Rather than requiring researchers to operate devices directly beside their test animals, the platform enables long-term, repeated studies of brain circuits from separate laboratories.

The platform could be used to track how brain circuits and behavior change over extended periods in conditions such as addiction, depression and neurodegenerative diseases — research that cannot be captured in brief experimental windows. Looking further ahead, integrating brain-state sensors with AI could allow the device to detect abnormal signals and automatically deliver drugs or stimulation at the right moment, potentially evolving into an intelligent implantable medical device.

"The significance lies in expanding a wireless brain implant that uses light and drugs from a simple short-range control tool into an IoT brain-engineering platform capable of long-term, repeated and remote experimentation," Jeong said. "We expect it will ultimately be applied to the development of intelligent implantable medical devices for diagnosing and treating brain diseases."

The findings were published in the international journal Science Advances.