Graphene's Neural Revolution: INBRAIN's BCI Succeeds in Human Study

By Stephanie Lewis

BARCELONA, Spain – April 20, 2026 – Neurotechnology company INBRAIN Neuroelectronics has announced the successful completion of patient enrollment in the world’s first-in-human study of a graphene-based neural interface. The trial, designed to map and decode brain activity with unprecedented resolution, marks a pivotal moment for brain-computer interface (BCI) technology and its potential to revolutionize neurosurgery and treat a range of neurological disorders.

The study (NCT06368310), sponsored by the University of Manchester and conducted at Salford Royal Hospital, involved using INBRAIN's ultra-thin graphene electrodes during brain tumor resection surgeries. Of the ten patients recruited, eight were treated surgically, with the device demonstrating a “favorable perioperative safety profile.” Crucially, no device-related adverse events were observed, a critical first step for any technology designed to interface directly with the human brain.

“The completion of patient enrollment in this first-in-human study marks an important step for INBRAIN and the field of neurotechnology,” said Carolina Aguilar, CEO and Co-founder of INBRAIN Neuroelectronics. “Graphene has the potential to fundamentally change how we interface with the brain, enabling higher resolution of neural function specific biomarkers, safer, and more intelligent BCI systems.”

A New Material for Unlocking the Brain's Secrets

For decades, the challenge in neurotechnology has been creating devices that can listen to and speak the brain’s electrical language without causing damage or being rejected by the body. Conventional electrodes, typically made of metals like platinum or silicon, are limited by their rigidity and size. They struggle to conform to the brain’s soft, complex contours, which can lead to inflammation and restrict their ability to capture the fine details of neural activity.

INBRAIN’s technology introduces a new material to solve this problem: graphene. A single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, graphene is the thinnest, strongest, and most conductive material ever discovered. These properties make it uniquely suited for neural interfaces.

INBRAIN's electrodes are ultra-thin, micrometric, and highly flexible, allowing them to adapt closely to the brain's surface and access hard-to-reach areas. This superior conformability minimizes tissue damage and the body’s immune response. By replacing metal with highly sensitive graphene, the devices can detect neural signals with exceptional fidelity and resolution.

“This study demonstrates that graphene can safely interface with the human brain, and capture neural signals with exceptional fidelity and resolution to enable precise decoding of brain and speech-related patterns metals can barely see,” explained Dr. Kostas Kostarelos, Co-Founder of INBRAIN and the study's Chief Scientific Investigator. “It marks a pivotal step towards translating a new enabling technology using neural signals into meaningful clinical applications and real-world patient benefit.”

Enhancing Precision in the Operating Room

The immediate clinical application tested in the study was intraoperative brain mapping during tumor resections. Surgeons must walk a fine line, removing as much cancerous tissue as possible while preserving healthy tissue responsible for critical functions like speech and movement. INBRAIN's graphene electrodes were used alongside standard monitoring systems to map these functions in real-time.

In some cases involving awake surgery, patients performed tasks like object naming. The high-resolution signals from the graphene interface allowed researchers to decode speech representation in the brain with remarkable detail, demonstrating the technology's potential to provide surgeons with a far more detailed functional map.

“The ability to detect high-frequency neural activity with micrometer-scale precision and also modulate it provides a fundamentally new level of insight into brain–tumor interactions and functional brain decoding and mapping,” said Dr. David Coope, the study's Chief Clinical Investigator and a Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences. “This level of resolution has the potential to significantly improve surgical precision and open new avenues for treating neurological disorders.”

The successful safety profile and signal quality data from the study, with full results expected later this year, pave the way for broader applications. Beyond surgery, the technology’s ability to decode and modulate neural activity could form the basis of new therapies for conditions like epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and stroke.

Navigating a Competitive and Complex Landscape

INBRAIN enters a BCI market buzzing with high-profile players and immense investment. Companies like Elon Musk’s Neuralink, with its high-density implanted threads, and Synchron, with its minimally invasive stent-based electrode, are also pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Neuralink has focused on enabling paralyzed individuals to control computers, while Synchron's less invasive approach via blood vessels has also shown early success.

INBRAIN’s strategic advantage lies in its material science. Graphene’s unique properties offer a potential best-of-both-worlds scenario: a highly invasive device in terms of placement but with material properties that make it less damaging and more sensitive than traditional implants. This focus on high-fidelity signals and biocompatibility could differentiate it for therapeutic applications that require precise, long-term neural modulation.

The U.S. FDA has already granted the company a Breakthrough Device Designation for its Intelligent Network Modulation System for treating Parkinson's disease, signaling regulatory confidence in the platform's potential.

However, as BCI technology advances from the lab to the clinic, it brings a host of profound ethical questions. The ability to read and potentially write neural information raises critical concerns about data privacy and security. Neural data is arguably the most sensitive information a person has, and protecting it from breaches or misuse is paramount. Furthermore, the high cost of such advanced technologies could exacerbate societal inequalities, creating a divide between those who can afford life-altering therapies or enhancements and those who cannot. These challenges demand robust ethical frameworks and public discourse to ensure the responsible development and equitable deployment of these powerful new tools.