Neuraura Biotech’s Vision is BIG & BOLD …To Unlock the Brain Photo above: Colin Dalton (left) and Pierre Wijdenes (right)
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he Calgary-based company has developed a novel microsensor that monitors brain activity better than ever before. The result could change the way technology is used to improve the lives of people suffering from neurological, psychiatric and sensory conditions. Neuraura’s sensors are comprised of tiny, three-dimensional electrodes. At one-fifth the width of a human hair, the wireless devices can be inserted into the brain with minimal impact. Not only that, they’re significantly more precise for electrically recording and stimulating the brain, offering a new breakthrough in the effort to diagnose and treat brain conditions. “Think of our technology as like a pacemaker for the brain,” says Pierre Wijdenes, Neuraura’s co-founder and CEO.
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Starting seven years ago, Wijdenes developed the technology during work for his PhD in biomedical engineering at the University of Calgary. Frustrated at the quality of readings he was getting from research on tissue slices, he worked with Colin Dalton, director of the Microsystems Hub and assistant professor at the university’s Schulich School of Engineering, to come up with a better sensor. Excited about the technology’s potential, they formed Neuraura in 2017. Since then, their startup has grown quickly. Neuraura has tripled angel financing with government support. It’s established collaborations with researchers at different institutions including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Melbourne. Now the company is aiming to commercialize its first clinical application in 2021, with a brain monitoring system for epilepsy surgery.
