Toggle search
Toggle menu
5.1K
5.9K
229
50.6K
VR & AR Wiki
Toggle preferences menu
Toggle personal menu
Not logged in
Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits.

Synchron

From VR & AR Wiki
More actions
Synchron
Information
Industry Neurotechnology, brain-computer interfaces
Founded 2012[1]
Founder Thomas Oxley, Nicholas Opie[2]
Headquarters New York City, United States
Notable Personnel Thomas Oxley (founder and CEO), Nicholas Opie (co-founder)
Products Stentrode, Synchron BCI
Website https://synchron.com


Synchron is a neurotechnology company that develops an implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) delivered through the blood vessels instead of by open brain surgery. Its implant, the Stentrode, is a small mesh tube inserted through the jugular vein and guided to a vein beside the brain's motor cortex, where it records signals produced when a person attempts to move.[3] The company was founded by Thomas Oxley and Nicholas Opie, who also led the Vascular Bionics Laboratory at the University of Melbourne, and it is headquartered in New York.[2][4]

Synchron's system is an investigational medical device. It is not approved for commercial use in any country, and the company describes its clinical benefit as not yet validated.[5] By late 2025 the Stentrode had been implanted in 10 people with paralysis across trials in Australia and the United States.[4] For VR and AR, Synchron is notable for connecting an implanted BCI to the Apple Vision Pro in July 2024, which it said was a first, and for being the first BCI maker to integrate with Apple's BCI Human Interface Device protocol, which Apple announced in May 2025 for iOS, iPadOS and visionOS.[6][7]

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Checked founding, funding rounds, trial registry data, SWITCH and COMMAND results, the 2016 and 2021 papers, the Apple Vision Pro demos and Apple BCI HID protocol claims against CNBC, Wired, UploadVR, Apple, Business Wire releases, ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed and University of Melbourne pages. About review dates.

History

Origins in Melbourne

The Stentrode came out of research at the University of Melbourne. The university says the device was developed by researchers from the University of Melbourne, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Monash University and Synchron, and that Oxley and Opie were co-heads of the university's Vascular Bionics Laboratory.[8] Oxley is a vascular and interventional neurologist; Opie is a biomedical engineer.[2] CNBC gives 2012 as the year Synchron was founded.[1][9]

The team's 2016 paper in Nature Biotechnology described a passive stent-electrode recording array, the "stentrode", implanted by catheter angiography into a cortical vein over the motor cortex of sheep. It recorded neural activity in freely moving animals for up to 190 days, with spectral content and bandwidth comparable to those of epidural surface arrays, and the vein stayed open for the whole implantation period.[10]

First human trials and FDA designations

The first human study, SWITCH (Stentrode With Thought-Controlled Digital Switch), started on 27 May 2019 at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Five patients with severe paralysis of both arms were enrolled (four with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, and one with primary lateral sclerosis), and four, all men, were included in the final analysis published in JAMA Neurology in 2023. All four completed 12 months of follow-up with no serious adverse events, no blocked vessels and no device migration, and each was able to control a computer with the BCI. Mean signal bandwidth was 233 Hz and stayed stable over the study.[11] An earlier paper reported the first two participants, both with ALS,[12] and the University of Melbourne said the first trial had shown the device helping patients with upper limb paralysis to text, email and shop online.[8]

The US Food and Drug Administration granted Synchron Breakthrough Device designation in August 2020 and an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) in July 2021.[2] CNBC reported that Synchron was the first company to receive an IDE to test a permanently implanted BCI in human patients.[1]

The US early feasibility study, COMMAND, began on 27 April 2022 and enrolled six participants at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, University at Buffalo Neurosurgery and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.[13][14] Its results were presented by principal investigator Elad Levy at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting in Houston on 30 September 2024. Synchron reported that all six participants met the primary endpoint of no device-related serious adverse events resulting in death or permanently increased disability during the first year after implant.[15][16]

Funding and manufacturing

In June 2021 the University of Melbourne reported that Synchron had raised AU$52 million in a Series B round led by Khosla Ventures, with the university among the investors.[8] On 15 December 2022 the company announced a US$75 million Series C round led by ARCH Venture Partners. New investors included Gates Frontier and Bezos Expeditions, and the round brought total funding to US$145 million.[2] In February 2024 Synchron took a minority stake in the German manufacturer Acquandas, gaining exclusive access to its metal-layering technology for medical devices, which it uses for one component of the implant.[9]

Synchron announced a US$200 million Series D round on 6 November 2025, led by Double Point Ventures with existing investors including ARCH Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures and Bezos Expeditions. New investors included Australia's National Reconstruction Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and IQT. The company said the round brought its total funding to US$345 million and would pay for pivotal trials, preparation for a commercial launch of the Stentrode system, a Cognitive AI division in New York and a new engineering hub in San Diego developing a next-generation "transcatheter high-channel whole-brain interface".[4]

Round Announced Amount Lead investor
Series B June 2021 AU$52 million Khosla Ventures[8]
Series C 15 December 2022 US$75 million ARCH Venture Partners[2]
Series D 6 November 2025 US$200 million Double Point Ventures[4]

Software and AI partnerships

In July 2024 Synchron added a chat feature built on OpenAI models that suggests text replies, which users select through the BCI. The company said it does not share users' brain data with OpenAI.[17] In January 2025 it announced work with NVIDIA's Holoscan sensor-processing platform for on-device neural processing and for a foundation model of brain data.[18] Wired reported in March 2025 that Synchron planned to use NVIDIA's Cosmos models to generate simulations of a user's body to help label brain data for training.[19]

2026

In March 2026 Wired reported that Synchron was in talks with the FDA about the clinical end point for a pivotal trial, and that its second-generation system would remove the wired paddle that currently sits on the user's chest to pick up signals from the implant.[3] A new Australian study, FOCUS-AUS, started at the Royal Melbourne Hospital on 22 May 2026 and was recruiting as of its last registry update, with an estimated 10 participants.[20]

Technology

The Stentrode is a mesh tube with electrode contacts. It is inserted at the base of the neck into the jugular vein and threaded through the venous system until it sits in a vessel against the motor cortex. A unit placed under the skin of the chest receives the brain signals and sends them out of the body to an external receiver, which decodes them into commands.[3][6] Synchron states that the procedure in its clinical trial takes about two hours, involves no open brain surgery, and that most participants go home the next day.[21]

The decoders work on attempted movement: a paralyzed user thinks about a motion such as making a fist or tapping a foot, and the system turns that pattern of motor-cortex activity into a click or other command.[3] Because the electrodes sit inside a blood vessel and not in brain tissue, the company has said its signal quality is lower than that of devices implanted directly in the brain, in exchange for a less invasive procedure.[9] Peter Yoo, Synchron's senior director of neuroscience, told CNBC in 2023 that roughly 2,000 interventionalists could perform the procedure, whereas open-brain surgery can be done only by neurosurgeons.[1]

Control has grown over time. Rodney Gorham, an Australian participant implanted in December 2020, first used the BCI for single clicks, then multiple clicks and sliding control, and by 2026 could move a computer cursor in two dimensions.[3]

Study Location Start Participants Status
SWITCH (NCT03834857) Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia 27 May 2019 5 enrolled, 4 analyzed Final follow-up completed 9 January 2022[11]
COMMAND (NCT05035823) Mount Sinai, University at Buffalo, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, US 27 April 2022 6 Primary completion 19 September 2024; active, not recruiting[13]
FOCUS-AUS (NCT07533903) Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia 22 May 2026 10 (estimated) Recruiting[20]

XR work

Apple Vision Pro demonstrations

On 30 July 2024 Synchron announced that it had connected its BCI to the Apple Vision Pro. The user was Mark, a 64-year-old COMMAND participant with ALS who had been implanted in August 2023 and had lost function in his shoulders, arms and hands. He had been testing the headset since April 2024 and used it to send texts, play Solitaire and watch TV; he told CNBC he could wear it for two hours without tiring and did not get motion sickness.[6][22] According to UploadVR, the demonstration replaced the Vision Pro's pinch gesture through an unofficial technique: Mark selected items with the headset's eye tracking and "clicked" by thinking about clicking.[7] Oxley told CNBC that Synchron would probably connect its BCI to other headsets later but was starting with the Vision Pro.[6]

At NVIDIA's GTC conference in March 2025, Synchron showed a video of Rodney Gorham, who has ALS, using his implant with the Vision Pro at home in Melbourne. Looking at a device in his home brought up a drop-down menu overlaid on his physical surroundings, and he chose actions by thought, such as playing music on a smart speaker, switching on a fan, running a robot vacuum and starting a pet feeder.[19] UploadVR noted that this demo appeared to use passthrough camera access, which Apple then offered only to enterprise apps under a special license.[7]

Apple BCI Human Interface Device protocol

On 13 May 2025 Apple announced that iOS, iPadOS and visionOS would add "a new protocol to support Switch Control for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs)", aimed at users with severe mobility disabilities.[23] UploadVR reported that Synchron's Stentrode would be the first device to support the new protocol, including on visionOS.[7] Synchron said it would be the first BCI company to achieve native integration with the protocol on iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro, and that, unlike assistive devices that imitate hardware inputs, the protocol lets the device share context such as screen layout with the BCI decoder.[24] Engadget, summarizing a report by The Wall Street Journal, wrote that in early testing an ALS patient used the Stentrode with Apple's software to look out over a mountain in the Swiss Alps in VR, but could not use it to mimic navigating a touch screen with fingers or moving a cursor with a mouse.[25]

On 4 August 2025 Synchron released the first public video of a person controlling an iPad entirely by thought through the new protocol and Switch Control; Mark navigated the home screen, opened apps and wrote text without using his hands, voice or eyes.[22][26] The company later described the protocol as a Bluetooth-based iOS protocol it had co-developed, connecting brain activity to iPad, iPhone and Vision Pro through Switch Control.[4] A Synchron field clinical engineer told Wired that Gorham had contributed directly to the development of Apple's Switch Control support for BCIs.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ashley Capoot (2023-02-18). "Brain implant startup backed by Bezos and Gates is testing mind-controlled computing on humans". CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/18/synchron-backed-by-bezos-and-gates-tests-brain-computer-interface.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Synchron raises US$75m Series C funding to advance endovascular brain-computer interface". University of Melbourne, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology. https://eng.unimelb.edu.au/ingenium/university-of-melbourne-professors-start-up-synchron-raises-us$75m-series-c-funding-to-advance-endovascular-brain-computer-interface. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Emily Mullin (2026-03-04). "What It's Like to Have a Brain Implant for 5 Years". Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/synchron-brain-computer-interface-five-years-als/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Synchron Raises $200 Million Series D to Advance Brain-Computer Interface Technology". Business Wire. Synchron. 2025-11-06. Archived from the original on 2025-12-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20251218144840/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251106150841/en/Synchron-Raises-%24200-Million-Series-D-to-Advance-Brain-Computer-Interface-Technology. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  5. ↑ "About". Synchron. https://synchron.com/about. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Ashley Capoot (2024-07-30). "Neuralink rival Synchron's brain implant now lets people control Apple's Vision Pro with their minds". CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/30/neuralink-rival-synchron-offers-thought-control-with-apple-vision-pro-.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 David Heaney (2025-05-13). "visionOS Is Getting Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Device Support". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/apple-vision-pro-getting-bci-brain-computer-interface-support/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Synchron secures $52 million to launch US clinical trials of implantable brain device to help severely paralysed patients". University of Melbourne. 2021-06-08. https://about.unimelb.edu.au/news-resources/awards-and-achievements/research-grants-funding/synchron-secures-$52-million-to-launch-us-clinical-trials-of-implantable-brain-device-to-help-severely-paralysed-patients. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Ashley Capoot (2024-02-01). "Neuralink competitor Synchron to ramp up brain implant production with equity stake in manufacturer". CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/01/neuralink-competitor-synchron-buys-equity-stake-in-manufacturer.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  10. ↑ T. J. Oxley, N. L. Opie, S. E. John, G. S. Rind, et al. (2016). "Minimally invasive endovascular stent-electrode array for high-fidelity, chronic recordings of cortical neural activity". Nature Biotechnology, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 320-327. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3428. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 P. Mitchell, S. C. M. Lee, P. E. Yoo, et al. (2023). "Assessment of Safety of a Fully Implanted Endovascular Brain-Computer Interface for Severe Paralysis in 4 Patients: The Stentrode With Thought-Controlled Digital Switch (SWITCH) Study". JAMA Neurology, vol. 80, no. 3, pp. 270-278. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.4847. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  12. ↑ T. J. Oxley, P. E. Yoo, G. S. Rind, et al. (2021). "Motor neuroprosthesis implanted with neurointerventional surgery improves capacity for activities of daily living tasks in severe paralysis: first in-human experience". Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 102-108. https://doi.org/10.1136/neurintsurg-2020-016862. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "COMMAND Early Feasibility Study: Implantable BCI to Control a Digital Device for People With Paralysis (NCT05035823)". ClinicalTrials.gov. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05035823. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  14. ↑ Ellen Goldbaum (2024-09-26). "Results from the feasibility study of the first permanently implanted brain-computer interface will be presented at CNS by a UB neurosurgeon". University at Buffalo. https://www.buffalo.edu/news.host.html/content/shared/university/news/news-center-releases/2024/09/UB-first-implanted-brain-computer-interface-Synchron.detail.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  15. ↑ "Synchron Announces COMMAND Study Results at the 2024 Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting". Silicon UK. Synchron (Business Wire). 2024-09-09. https://www.silicon.co.uk/press-release/synchron-announces-command-study-results-at-the-2024-congress-of-neurological-surgeons-annual-meeting. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  16. ↑ Robert Herpen (2024-10-04). "No serious adverse events reported with Synchron brain-computer interface at 12 months". Healio. https://www.healio.com/news/neurology/20241004/no-serious-adverse-events-reported-with-synchron-braincomputer-interface-at-12-months. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  17. ↑ "Synchron Announces Brain Computer Interface Chat Feature Powered by OpenAI". Business Wire. Synchron. 2024-07-11. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240711493318/en/Synchron-Announces-Brain-Computer-Interface-Chat-Feature-Powered-by-OpenAI. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  18. ↑ "Synchron to Advance Implantable Brain-Computer Interface Technology with NVIDIA Holoscan". Business Wire. Synchron. 2025-01-13. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250113376337/en/Synchron-to-Advance-Implantable-Brain-Computer-Interface-Technology-with-NVIDIA-Holoscan. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Emily Mullin (2025-03-19). "Synchron's Brain-Computer Interface Now Has Nvidia's AI". Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/synchrons-brain-computer-interface-now-has-nvidias-ai/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Functional Outcomes and Control Using Synchron BCI - Australia (FOCUS-AUS) (NCT07533903)". ClinicalTrials.gov. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07533903. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  21. ↑ "Technology". Synchron. https://synchron.com/technology. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Synchron Debuts First Thought-Controlled iPad Experience Using Apple's New BCI Human Interface Device Protocol". Business Wire. Synchron. 2025-08-04. Archived from the original on 2025-12-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20251230102151/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250804537175/en/Synchron-Debuts-First-Thought-Controlled-iPad-Experience-Using-Apples-New-BCI-Human-Interface-Device-Protocol. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  23. ↑ "Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year". Apple Newsroom. Apple. 2025-05-13. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/05/apple-unveils-powerful-accessibility-features-coming-later-this-year/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  24. ↑ "Synchron To Achieve First Native Brain-Computer Interface Integration with iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro". Business Wire. Synchron. 2025-05-13. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250513927084/en/Synchron-To-Achieve-First-Native-Brain-Computer-Interface-Integration-with-iPhone-iPad-and-Apple-Vision-Pro. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  25. ↑ Lawrence Bonk (2025-05-13). "Apple has teamed up with Synchron to develop tech that lets people control its devices with thoughts". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-has-teamed-up-with-synchron-to-develop-tech-that-lets-people-control-its-devices-with-thoughts-154018858.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  26. ↑ Mary Kekatos (2025-08-08). "ALS patient is 1st to control iPad by thought with implantable brain sensor". ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/als-patient-1st-control-ipad-thought-implantable-brain/story?id=124442283. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
Retrieved from "https://vrarwiki.com/index.php?title=Synchron&oldid=50214"