BrainGate

A multi-institution research programme running the BrainGate2 feasibility study of intracortical neural interfaces for people with tetraplegia.

Interface category

Intracortical arrays

Signal

Action potentials and local field potentials

Invasiveness

Invasive

Recording / stimulation

Recording and stimulation

Device

Utah array (NeuroPort) — Rigid silicon microelectrode array, typically connected through a skull-mounted pedestal

Channels

96 electrodes per array in most human studies

Regulatory status

Investigational for chronic BCI use

Main use cases

Communicate, Control, Move

Works with

Brown University / Providence VA Medical Center · Massachusetts General Hospital · Stanford University

Shown in people

Two decades of peer-reviewed results: cursor control (2006), handwriting at 90 characters per minute (2021) and speech at 97.5% word accuracy over 8.4 months (2024).

Still an aim

It is a research programme and sells nothing. Its aim is evidence and methods that others build on.

What stands in the way

Research hardware: arrays wired through the skull, used with a study team's support.

On record here: 3 registered studies · 62 participants planned or enrolled · 7 peer-reviewed papers

BrainGate is the field's reference programme. Its open publication record and released datasets set the benchmarks that commercial systems are now measured against, and its sites train many of the people who go on to build them. Its participants use arrays wired through the skull with a study team on hand, so the results show what is possible, not what a product delivers.

1. 15 Aug 2024

   Speech neuroprosthesis sustains 97.5% accuracy over 8.4 months in one participant.

   Peer reviewedCard NS et al., New England Journal of Medicine

2. 12 May 2021

   Handwriting decoded at 90 characters per minute.

   Peer reviewedWillett FR et al., Nature

3. May 2009

   BrainGate2 feasibility study begins; it remains open across six US sites.

   Clinical registryBrainGate2 · NCT00912041

4. 13 Jul 2006

   First report of a person with tetraplegia controlling a cursor and devices with an intracortical array.

   Peer reviewedHochberg LR et al., Nature

• Interfacing with neurotechnology to expand neural throughput

  Academic study with Blackrock Neurotech as collaborator.

  FeasibilityRecruiting

  5 estimatedNCT07521930

• CRS-BMI

  Bidirectional intracortical BCI: motor decoding with tactile feedback by microstimulation.

  FeasibilityRecruiting

  30 estimatedNCT01894802

• BrainGate2

  The longest-running intracortical BCI study, open since 2009 across six US sites.

  FeasibilityRecruiting

  27 estimatedNCT00912041

• 2025
  Inner speech in motor cortex and implications for speech neuroprostheses

  Kunz EM et al. · Cell

• 2025
  An instantaneous voice-synthesis neuroprosthesis

  Wairagkar M et al. · Nature

• 2025
  A high-performance brain–computer interface for finger decoding and quadcopter game control in an individual with paralysis

  Willsey MS et al. · Nature Medicine

• 2024
  An Accurate and Rapidly Calibrating Speech Neuroprosthesis

  Card NS et al. · New England Journal of Medicine

• 2023
  A high-performance speech neuroprosthesis

  Willett FR et al. · Nature

• 2021
  A brain-computer interface that evokes tactile sensations improves robotic arm control

  Flesher SN et al. · Science

• 2021
  High-performance brain-to-text communication via handwriting

  Willett FR et al. · Nature

• Leigh R. Hochberg

  Sponsor-investigator, BrainGate2

As publicly stated by the organisation. Not a complete list.

• IntracorticalFeasibility

  Blackrock Neurotech

  Maker of the electrode arrays behind most human intracortical BCI research.

• IntracorticalFeasibility

  Paradromics

  A high-data-rate intracortical BCI aimed first at restoring speech.