New York University (New York, NY) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) scientists in U.S. Patent Application 20100106259 disclose conducting polymer nanowires and methods for their use in a brain-machine interface which is secure, robust and minimally invasive. A vascular-based brain-machine interface comprising conducting polymer nanowires is disclosed by a inventors, Rodolfo R Llinas (New York, NY), Ian W. Hunter; (Cambridge, MA) and Bryan P. Ruddy (Somerville, MA). The brain-machine interface is based on a nanotechnology/vascular approach which they have developed. The interface has the advantage of being retrievable in that the nano-scale conducting polymer electrodes are small enough so that even with a large number of electrodes (millions), the interface can be removed without violating the integrity of the brain. The system for receiving electrical signals from a biological target using vascular-based probes, includes: a plurality of conducting polymer nanowires, each nanowire having a distal end and a proximal end, and an associated probe portion located at the distal end of each nanowire; the plurality of conducting polymer nanowires being delivered into a vascular territory to be monitored; and an electronic interface circuit in electrical communication with the plurality of conducting...
