Science Corporation, the neurotechnology startup founded by Max Hodak in 2021, is moving toward its first human clinical trial for a biohybrid brain-computer interface device. The company has enlisted Dr. Murat Günel, chair of Yale Medical School's Department of Neurosurgery, as scientific adviser to lead the effort. Günel's involvement follows two years of discussions with the Science team.
The immediate goal is to surgically place the company's advanced sensor into a patient's brain. Unlike conventional brain-computer interfaces that use metal probes or electrodes, Science's device incorporates lab-grown neurons that are designed to naturally integrate with a patient's existing brain neurons, forming a biological bridge between electronics and neural tissue.
Science achieved significant financial backing recently, completing a $230 million Series C fundraising round that valued the company at $1.5 billion. The company's most advanced product currently in development is PRIMA, a device for restoring vision in people with blindness caused by macular degeneration. Science acquired PRIMA technology in 2024 and has advanced it through clinical trials, with plans for European regulatory approval potentially coming this year.
Hodak's founding vision extends beyond treating disease. He has pursued the goal of creating reliable communication links between computers and the human brain, both for therapeutic applications and potential human enhancement such as adding entirely new senses to the body. His career path has been dedicated to this proposition, from his early work in a graduate neuroscience lab to founding his first biotech computing startup to co-founding Neuralink with Elon Musk.
The first human trial will test the sensor without embedded neurons. Unlike Neuralink devices that are inserted directly into brain tissue, Science's sensor will be implanted inside the skull but rest on top of the brain. The device is approximately the size of a pea and contains 520 recording electrodes. Because of its placement on the brain's surface rather than within tissue, the company argues it poses no significant risk and does not plan to seek FDA approval for these trials.
The company plans to identify patient candidates who already require significant brain surgery, such as stroke victims who need a piece of their cranium removed to reduce the impact of brain swelling. In such cases, Günel expects to place the sensor on the patient's cortex to evaluate its safety and efficacy in measuring brain activity.
According to Günel, the device could help address multiple neurological conditions if successful. One early application could be delivering gentle electrical stimulation to damaged brain or spinal cord cells to encourage healing. More complex applications might include monitoring neurological activity in patients with brain tumors and providing early warnings about oncoming seizures.
Hodak's decision to pursue the biohybrid approach stems from his conclusion that conventional metal probes damage the brain over time, a limitation that likely undermines device performance. Alan Mardinly, a co-founder and the company's chief science officer, has led development of the biohybrid sensor with a team of 30 researchers. In 2024, the company released a working paper demonstrating that the device could be safely implanted in mice and used to stimulate brain activity.
The company is currently focused on developing prototypes and establishing processes to grow neuron cells for different therapeutic applications that meet medical use standards. Günel is already in discussion with medical ethics boards that oversee human subject experiments as the team prepares for human clinical trials.