Researchers Develop Wireless Method of Brain Stimulation A new,
wireless method of brain stimulation has the potential to
activate specific regions of the brain or restore function to
damaged or cut nerves, according to a study by Case Western
Reserve University researchers. Ben Strowbridge, an associate
professor in the neurosciences department at Case Western
Reserve’s School of Medicine, and Clemens Burda, an associate
professor in chemistry, collaborated on the project. They say
that by using semiconductor nanoparticles as very tiny solar
cells they can excite neurons in single cells or groups of cells
with visible, or infrared, light. In their study, the
researchers embedded light-activated nanoparticles, which
require neither wires nor electrical power, directly into non-
human brain tissue and were able to activate neurons. A next
step would be to use the technology to activate dispersed groups
of neurons at the same time. This would represent a new way of
re-creating the complex activity patterns that