Rat brain implant controlled from Chicago reaches Korea

In Chicago, a researcher reached across the internet to control a brain implant in a rat in Daejeon, Korea. The device delivered drugs and light in real time, showing that a wireless neural system can be operated across intercontinental distances rather than only from beside the animal.

The implant, developed by teams led by Professor Jae-Woong Jeong at KAIST and Professor Wha Young Kim at Yonsei University College of Medicine, is about the size of a sugar cube. Its electrochemical micropump delivers drugs through a microfluidic system, while a micro-LED provides optical stimulation—light used to control selected neurons. The two functions can work independently or together.

That combination addresses a practical problem in brain research. Conventional equipment often uses bulky wires, while earlier wireless devices could still require researchers to remain close to the animal. The new system can be controlled through a web interface or programmed to operate at a preset time, reducing the researcher’s physical presence and the behavioral effects that presence can cause. Its drug reservoir is magnetically detachable, so it can be replaced or refilled without another implantation surgery.

The team implanted the device in rats and checked its operation over a four-week period. In one experiment, cocaine was administered wirelessly while targeted neurons were stimulated with light; the results showed that addiction-related behavioral responses could be suppressed. The study was published in Science Advances.

So what changes, concretely? Neuroscience teams could run longer experiments on addiction, depression or neurodegenerative diseases while leaving animals freer to move and controlling interventions remotely or on a schedule. The demonstrated result is still limited to rats and a four-week test, and the proposed future use—combining brain-state sensing with artificial intelligence to trigger treatment—has not yet been shown in the study.