Brain implant startup pauses trials

Get your daily dose of health and medicine every weekday with STAT’s free newsletter Morning Rounds. Sign up here. Buongiorno! Today’s stories have me wondering what it must be like to study the human brain: Every new discovery is a breathtaking revelation, and also a reminder of how little we know, and how far the horizon of full understanding still is. It feels a little like looking at the universe, only what is infinite is, in the most literal sense, ourselves. The homegrown experiments trying to free kids from their phones For many teenagers, phones are pervasive — and destructive. And the policy proposals and scientific research meant to address the crisis are moving too slowly to help a generation already hooked on screens. But as STAT’s Isabella Cueto reports, a variety of homegrown initiatives are filling the gap, many of them led by teens. Some programs draw inspiration from Alcoholics Anonymous, helping teens develop tools and strategies to refocus and put their devices away. Others are pushing teens to understand the financial incentives behind holding their attention. The techniques are as varied as they are creative: public interventions, manifestos, and overall a movement that is reclaiming attention, real life connections and, ultimately, freedom. Read all about it here. The weight of knowing you are at risk of Alzheimer’s Biomarker-based diagnostics have improved our understanding of who may develop severe dementia, advancing our knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease and the hope of finding effective early treatment. Yet for the people who become aware of their heightened risk, the knowledge is bittersweet. The information allows them to act by taking drugs that may delay dementia onset, but it also carries a weight. In a new First Opinion, Neurotransmissions columnist Jason Karlawish shares how learning of elevated risk changed people’s outlook on the future, from bucket lists to plans for care, to considerations about assisted suicide. (And in case you missed it, check out the first installment in this miniseries here.) We finally have a map of the brain’s ‘Grand Central’ The basal ganglia is a gumball-sized region of the brain so central to psychiatric and neurologic conditions that one scientist called it “the Grand Central station of disease.” Now a massive scientific collaboration has created a map of the area, including a list of which cells are present and how they arranged. This research has led to the discovery of a new type of neuron, and the identification of cells linked to depression, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Authors consider it a “monumental achievement” that opens the door for understanding the brain in health and disease, but further progress may be at stake amid government funding cuts, Jonathan Wosen reports. Takeaways from STAT’s investigation into the MRT tourism industry When STAT’s Megan Molteni started investigating the experimental reproductive procedure known as MRT, or mitochondrial replacement techniques, she didn’t know that she would uncover a sprawling international network of clinics that that market to older women. Over the course of her reporting, she also found evidence that MRT can effectively treat age-related infertility is lacking. In fact, data obtained by STAT shows MRT doesn’t work for patients of advanced maternal age. Read more of her takeaways from this eight-month investigation here. And if you haven’t already read Megan’s original investigation, I encourage you to dig in. Brain implant startup pauses trials Synchron has paused clinical trials of its second-generation brain-computer interface. The Brooklyn-based startup’s device was a wireless version of its first-generation device, which snakes a catheter through veins to park a stent near the brain’s motor cortex. The aim was to connect users to digital devices using brain activity. The pause is not safety related, leaders said. It’s the first major hiccup for Synchron, one of the leading companies in a fast-growing industry aimed at helping people with disabilities like ALS and paralysis regain independence through brain implants. Synchron will also eliminate jobs in New York City and is working to develop a new device, WIRED reported. The news gives context to a cryptic comment CEO Tom Oxley gave on a conference panel in New York City last week. “There are hundreds of components in our system, and it just takes a delayed one to slow down your submission to the FDA,” said Oxley, flanked by his competitors at Neuralink and Precision Neuroscience. “We had one particular component that we were caught up on.” – O. Rose Broderick El-Sayed: ‘We’ve created the space for a few grifters to come in and … lie to the public” Come January, Abdul El-Sayed will be the first epidemiologist in the Senate. His election comes as the U.S. is struggling through a spike in measles cases, a Dengue fever outbreak, and a recent foodborne illness crisis. STAT’s Nick Florko spoke with the senator-elect about how he hopes to rebuild trust in science, as well as who’s responsible for the current state of affairs. “We didn’t have to get here,” El-Sayed said. “In a lot of ways, obviously, I blame mis- and dis-information-mongers like RFK Jr. for that, but I also blame … our collective scientific and health care apparatus for creating the circumstances where somebody like him could step in, and he would have a willing audience willing to listen.” Read the whole meaty interview here. What we’re reading Dubious buys raise alarm over local control of opioid cash, KFF Health News RSV vaccines slash infections: data show jabs’ staggering success against dangerous virus, Nature Meet the real-estate billionaire spending a fortune to slow down aging, The Wall Street Journal Why ‘brainier’ sports may be better for people with ADHD, The Washington Post A new benchmark for de-aging comes from slowly turning back cells’ clocks, Wired