Max Hodak’s Science Corp. preparing to place its first sensor in the human brain

Science Corporation, a startup from former Neuralink president and co-founder Max Hodak, has enlisted a top neurobiologist to lead the first US human trials of its biohybrid brain-computer operating system.

Dr. Murat Günel, chairman of Yale Medical School’s Department of Neurosurgery, signed on as a scientific advisor after two years of negotiations. His goal is to surgically implant the first sensor of the future interface — one that will eventually integrate lab-grown neurons and electronics — into a patient’s brain.

Science, which was founded in 2021, completed a Series C fundraising round of $230 million last month that valued the company at $1.5 billion. Its most advanced product is PRIMA, a vision restoration device for people with blindness caused by macular degeneration and similar conditions. Science discovered the technology in 2024 and has advanced it through clinical trials, with plans to make it widely available in Europe once regulatory approval is obtained, possibly as soon as this year.

However, Hodak founded the company with a big vision in mind: to create reliable communication links between computers and the human mind – both to cure diseases and to pave the way for human development, such as adding completely new senses to the body. He’s dedicated his career to that proposition, from speaking to a graduate neuroscience lab as a college student, to founding his first biotech computer startup, to building Neuralink alongside Elon Musk.

Neuralink and other organizations have been successful in using electrical sensors to detect brain activity in patients suffering from ALS, spinal cord injuries, and other conditions that disrupt the brain-body connection. Users with embedded devices can control computers or generate words on a screen by thinking about them. However, the path to the actual market for these devices remains elusive, given the regulatory challenges and the small number of patients with a viable diagnosis.

For his part, Hodak concluded that the conventional method of influencing the brain electrically using metal probes or electrodes is the wrong way forward. Although the technology can achieve amazing results, Günel says that these probes cause brain damage that can undermine the device’s performance in the long run. That limitation led the Science founding team to a more natural approach.

“The idea of ​​using natural connections through neurons and creating biological connections between electronics and the human brain is brilliant,” Günel told TechCrunch.

Alan Mardinly, founder and chief scientific officer of the company, has led the development of the biohybrid sensor for Science with a team of 30 researchers. The final device will be embedded with lab-grown neurons. Those neurons can be stimulated by pulses of light and are designed to integrate naturally with neurons in the patient’s brain, creating a bridge between biology and electronics. In 2024, the company released a working paper showing that the device could be safely implanted in mice and used to stimulate brain activity.

Within the company, the focus is now on making prototypes of the device and looking at how to grow neuron cells in different therapeutic applications that meet the standards of medical use.

Günel will advise the team as it prepares for human clinical trials and is already negotiating with medical ethics boards that would oversee trials involving human subjects. The first step will be testing the company’s advanced sensor, without embedded neurons, inside a living human brain.

Unlike the Neuralink device, which is inserted directly into brain tissue, Science’s sensor will be placed inside the skull but rest on top of the brain. Perhaps because of that difference, the company says it does not plan to seek FDA approval for these tests, arguing that the small device — which contains 520 recording electrodes packed into a pea-sized area — poses no significant risk to patients.

The group’s plan is to find people who need a patient who already needs significant brain surgery, such as stroke victims who need a piece of their cranium removed to reduce the effects of brain swelling. In such a case, Günel expects to place a sensor on their cortex and test its safety and effectiveness in measuring brain activity.

Günel believes that the device can help to deal with many emotional situations if it is successful. Another early use could be to deliver mild electrical stimulation to damaged brain or spinal cord cells to promote healing. A more sophisticated app might include monitoring neurological activity in patients with brain tumors, as well as providing early warnings to caregivers about impending seizures.

However, if the full potential of these machines is realized, Günel wonders if it might provide an effective treatment for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disease that gradually robs patients of their ability to control their bodies. Current treatment options include experimental brain cell transplants and deep brain electrical stimulation, but nothing is guaranteed to stop the disease from progressing.

“I think this biohybrid system combines these two things — you have electronics, and you have a biological system,” he told TechCrunch. “In Parkinson’s, for example, we cannot stop the progression of the disease; in neurosurgery, all we do is put an electrode to stop the tremors. [transplanted] the cells return to the brain, protect those circuits, there is a chance, and I believe it is a good chance that we can stop the progression of this disease.”

However, there is a lot of work to be done before then. Günel says it would be “hopeful” to expect the tests to start in 2027.