Murat Günel Named Medical Director for Brain-Computer Interfaces at Science Corporation

Science Corporation has appointed Murat Günel, M.D., as medical director for brain-computer interfaces (BCI). He will help develop the clinical and surgical programs for the company’s Biohybrid project.

Dr. Günel is the Sterling Professor of Neurosurgery and professor of neuroscience and genetics, and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, at Yale School of Medicine; neurosurgeon-in-chief of the Yale New Haven Health System; and chair of the Yale Medicine Board. He will retain his current academic and clinical positions. Dr. Günel is recognized for his work in cortical development and the genetics of brain disorders, and his research has helped define the field of neurosurgery for three decades.

“Murat is a world-renowned neurosurgeon who is consistently at the forefront of neuroscience. His background will be critical in helping to move advanced neural interfaces like Biohybrid forward,” Science Corporation Chief Scientific Officer Alan Mardinly said.

Science Corporation bigwigs hired Dr. Günel as the company ramps up the development of its Biohybrid BCI program, having successfully completed a $230 million Series C fundraising round. Biohybrid uses living neurons as the neural interface rather than rigid silicon and wires, connecting to the brain with more bandwidth than current state-of-the-art devices, while avoiding the damage and limitations of conventional hardware.

“We are extremely fortunate to have the benefit of Murat’s expertise. To commercialize a BCI like Biohybrid, we have to design a surgical approach that is as sophisticated as the device itself,” Science Corporation Co-Founder/CEO Max Hodak stated. “As we move from the lab to human patients, Murat’s knowledge of complex neurosurgery and his experience in translating research into surgical strategies that restore function will be invaluable.”

Dr. Günel is co-director of the Yale Program on Neurogenetics and director of the Program in Brain Tumor Research. He earned his medical degree from Istanbul University and completed his internship and neurosurgical residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. Dr. Günel is a National Academy of Medicine member and has received numerous distinctions for his contributions to neuroscience and neurosurgery, including the Ralph G. Dacey Medal for Outstanding Cerebrovascular Research from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

In addition to its Biohybrid program, Science’s BCI retinal implant—PRIMA—is reportedly the only treatment to successfully restore form vision to patients blinded by late-stage macular degeneration in clinical trials. The PRIMA trial results were featured in The New England Journal of Medicine and on the cover of Time magazine. PRIMA is awaiting U.S. Food and Drug Administration and CE mark (EU) approval.

“The Biohybrid technology being developed by the Science team is the most promising approach I’ve seen for creating the next generation of neural interfaces,” Dr. Günel commented. “I believe this technology will have an important clinical impact, thanks to its compatibility with what we know about the brain and its scalability for different disease conditions. I’m very excited to be a part of this work.”

Science Corporation is a vertically integrated, full-stack neural engineering company striving to restore and extend life by transcending the limits of biology. The Alameda, Calif.-based company is developing advanced brain-computer interface technologies and devices to address critical unmet medical needs and, longer term, to transform the human condition through neural engineering and advanced perfusion technology.