Billionaire’s neurotechnology firm is hiring clinical trial staffers as it awaits regulatory approval
Neuralink, the US neurotechnology firm co-founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has begun recruiting key employees to run its clinical trials, signaling that it’s inching closer to starting human testing of its brain implants.
A job posting was made by the company to find a Clinical Trial Director and Coordinator. These ads mention that the employees will “work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink’s first clinical trial participants.”Neuralink stated that the director will be responsible for leading and helping to grow its clinical research group and will also develop “regulatory interactions that come with a fast-paced and ever-evolving environment.”
Musk, who ranks as the world’s richest person with a fortune estimated at $256 billion, said last month that he expects to have Neuralink brain chips implanted in humans sometime in 2022, pending approval for testing plans by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Musk, along with Neuralink Partners, founded the company to develop brain chips which connect people and computers. Musk claims that implants will allow paralyzed individuals to use their brains to control devices such as smartphones. After human testing has begun, he anticipates that more will be achieved, such as the solution of many physical disabilities via the bridge between neurons.
Neuralink’s chips have been tested in the brains a macaque monkey, and a porcine. Last April raised questions when the company posted video footage purporting that it showed a monkey playing a game using its brain only.
Musk stated last month that the first test subjects for humans will be those with severe spinal injuries such as quadriplegics. “We have a chance with Neuralink to restore full-body functionality to someone who has a spinal cord injury,”He stated.
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