GoKawiilNeuropixels brain probes now being tested during human neurosurgery in London
At the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, surgeon Ahmed Toma and Francis Crick Institute scientist Mihaly Kollo tested a hair-thin Neuropixels probe in a patient undergoing shunt surgery for normal pressure hydrocephalus. The probe, capable of recording activity from hundreds of neurons simultaneously, picked up brain responses as researchers played repeated word pairs to the patient. Neuropixels have been used in animal research since 2017 but are now being trialled in human surgical settings.
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Surgery offers researchers rare access to a living, often conscious human brain, and a tool that can record hundreds of neurons at once could sharpen understanding of how the brain processes language and familiarity. If validated more broadly, this approach could extend a technology that transformed animal neuroscience into direct human brain research, though it remains dependent on opportunistic access during unrelated operations.
- Neuropixels probes record activity from hundreds of neurons simultaneously and were first used in animal studies in 2017.
- Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute tested the probe in a human patient during a routine NHNN shunt surgery.
- The experiment examined how the brain responds to repeated spoken word pairs, offering insight into neural processing in real time.
Source: nature.com — Kwon, 2026-11-02
Published there as: “Meet Neuropixels: how probes that track hundreds of brain cells at once are revolutionizing neuroscience”
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