Elon Musk’s s brain implant company could be one step closer to implanting chips in human brains.
Musk’s company Neuralink is in talks with Barrow Neurological Institute, an Arizona-based neurological disease treatment and research organization, as a potential partner according to a report by Reuters.
The Mail Online reports: Musk, who believes the chips will cure intractable conditions such as paralysis and blindness, said in November that Neurlink was aiming for human trials in six months.
The news follows the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejecting Neuralink’s application on March 2 to begin human trials due to dozens of safety issues the company failed to address, Reuters reported.
The concerns included the device’s lithium battery; the potential for the implant´s tiny wires to migrate to other areas of the brain; and questions over whether and how the device can be removed without damaging brain tissue.
Reuters reports that Neuralink has since been working to address the FDA’s concerns. The progress on the issues is unclear.
Sources said that while Neuralink is in talks with Barrow Neurological Institute, the company is also speaking with other centers that could not be verified.
DailyMail.com has contacted Barrow Neurological Institute for comment.
Neuralink is currently facing probes from the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Inspector General at the request of a federal prosecutor and the US Department of Transportation (DOT) over claims it illegally transported hazardous pathogens.
The USDA’s investigation is over animal-welfare violations amid staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to a Reuters review of documents and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations who spoke to Reuters.
The company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, following experiments since 2018, according to records reviewed by Reuters and sources with direct knowledge of the company’s animal-testing operations.
DailyMail.com spoke to a former employee in December 2022, who said Neuralink ‘sacrificed all the animals involved.
One case stood out to them- a monkey sacrificed ahead of schedule due to errors allegedly made during surgery.
DailyMail.com previously obtained Neuralink lab notes that detail how a sealant was placed on the surgical holes, causing the monkey’s brain to swell and hemorrhage.
‘There was no reason to use it,’ the former employee, who worked as a necropsy technician, told DailyMail.com.
And this was done by the head neurosurgeon Dr Matthew MacDougall at Sutter Health in San Francisco, California.
