Interfacing with the Brain: How Nanotechnology Can Contribute
Abdullah Ahmed Ali Ahmed, Núria Alegret, Bethany Almeida, Ramón A. Álvarez‐Puebla, Anne M. Andrews, Laura Ballerini, Juan J. Barrios‐Capuchino, Charline Becker, Robert H. Blick, Shahin Bonakdar, Indranath Chakraborty, Xiaodong Chen, Jinwoo Cheon, Gerwin Chilla, A.L.C. Conceição, James B. Delehanty, Martin Dulle, Alexander L. Efros, Matthias Epple, Mark Fedyk, Neus Feliu, Feng Miao, Rafael Fernández‐Chacón, Irene Fernandez‐Cuesta, Niels Fertig, Stephan Förster, José A. Garrido, Michael H. George, Andreas H. Guse, Norbert Hampp, Jann Harberts, Jili Han, Hauke R. Heekeren, Ulrich Hofmann, Malte Holzapfel, Hessam Hosseinkazemi, Yalan Huang, Patrick Huber, Taeghwan Hyeon, Sven Ingebrandt, Marcello Ienca, Armin Iske, Yanan Kang, G. Kasieczka, Dae‐Hyeong Kim, Kostas Kostarelos, Jae‐Hyun Lee, Kai‐Wei Lin, Sijin Liu, Xin Liu, Yang Liu, Christian Lohr, Volker Mailänder, Laura Maffongelli, Saad Megahed, Alf Mews, Marina Mutas, Leroy Nack, Nako Nakatsuka, Thomas G. Oertner, Andreas Offenhäusser, Martin Oheim, Ben Otange, Ferdinand Otto, Enrico Patrono, Bo Peng, Alessandra Picchiotti, Filippo Pierini, Monika Pötter‐Nerger, Maria Rosa Pozzi, Arnd Pralle, Maurizio Prato, Bing Qi, Pedro Ramos‐Cabrer, Ute Resch‐Genger, Norbert Ritter, Martin Rittner, Sathi Roy, Francesca Santoro, Nicolas W. Schuck, Florian Schulz, Erkin Şeker, Marvin Skiba, Martin Sosniok, Holger Stephan, Ruixia Wang, Ting Wang, K. David Wegner, Paul S. Weiss, Ming Xu, Chenxi Yang, Seyed Shahrooz Zargarian, Yuan Zeng, Yaofeng Zhou, Dingcheng Zhu, Robert Zierold, Wolfgang J. Parak
Abstract
Interfacing artificial devices with the human brain is the central goal of neurotechnology. Yet, our imaginations are often limited by currently available paradigms and technologies. Suggestions for brain-machine interfaces have changed over time, along with the available technology. Mechanical levers and cable winches were used to move parts of the brain during the mechanical age. Sophisticated electronic wiring and remote control have arisen during the electronic age, ultimately leading to plug-and-play computer interfaces. Nonetheless, our brains are so complex that these visions, until recently, largely remained unreachable dreams. The general problem, thus far, is that most of our technology is mechanically and/or electrically engineered, whereas the brain is a living, dynamic entity. As a result, these worlds are difficult to interface with one another. Nanotechnology, which encompasses engineered solid-state objects and integrated circuits, excels at small length scales of single to a few hundred nanometers and, thus, matches the sizes of biomolecules, biomolecular assemblies, and parts of cells. Consequently, we envision nanomaterials and nanotools as opportunities to interface with the brain in alternative ways. Here, we review the existing literature on the use of nanotechnology in brain-machine interfaces and look forward in discussing perspectives and limitations based on the authors' expertise across a range of complementary disciplines─from neuroscience, engineering, physics, and chemistry to biology and medicine, computer science and mathematics, and social science and jurisprudence. We focus on nanotechnology but also include information from related fields when useful and complementary.