Revolutionary Graphene Chip for Brain Tumor Surgery Begins Clinical Trials in UK

A groundbreaking graphene-based brain chip is set to undergo its first clinical trial at Salford Royal Hospital, potentially transforming brain tumor surgeries, The Guardian reported yesterday.

This innovative device, the size of a postage stamp, detects cancer cells by measuring differences in electrical emissions between cancerous and healthy neural tissue.

Developed by an international team, the chip leverages graphene’s remarkable conductive properties, which earned its inventors the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. Kostas Kostarelos, a professor of nanomedicine, highlighted that this trial marks the first use of a graphene medical device in a clinical setting.

The chip aims to enhance surgical precision by differentiating cancer cells from healthy neurons, crucial for surgeries near sensitive brain areas. With over 12,700 new brain tumor diagnoses annually in the UK, this technology could significantly improve patient outcomes and also aid in studying conditions like stroke and epilepsy. Researchers view this as a major milestone in neural decoding and therapeutic interventions.