Researchers at Yonsei University in South Korea and the Center for Nanomedicine within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have revealed a technology that uses magnetic fields to manipulate specific brain regions.

This potentially provides insight into the workings of higher-order brain functions like motivation, emotion, and cognition.

The group has created the first-ever Nano-MIND (Magnetogenetic Interface for NeuroDynamics) technology, which makes it possible to precisely, wirelessly, and remotely modify particular deep brain neuronal circuits through the use of magnetism. The study has been published in the Nature Nanotechnology journal.

More than 100 billion neurons are arranged in a sophisticated network across the human brain. Understanding higher brain functions, including cognition, emotion, and social behavior, as well as figuring out the origins of different brain ailments, depend on controlling the neural circuits.

Advances in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), like those being developed by Neuralink, which seek to allow control of external devices through thinking alone, are also impacted by novel technologies to control brain activities.

Because magnetic fields are safe and can permeate biological tissue, they have been employed in medical imaging for a long time. However, scientists have found it difficult to accurately manipulate magnetic fields in brain circuits.

IBS researchers have successfully created a state-of-the-art magnetogenetics technology known as Nano-MIND, which allows for the wireless and remote control of particular brain regions to modulate complex brain processes in animals, including motivation, social behaviors, and emotions. This cutting-edge technique uses magnetized nanoparticles and magnetic fields to specifically stimulate particular brain circuits.

The main novelty is the ability to control neural activity spatiotemporally by selectively expressing nano-magnetoreceptors in particular neuronal types and brain circuits and turning on rotating magnetic fields at specific times.