The Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program, launched in 2016 to facilitate precision communication between the brain and the digital world, has taken a giant step: In July 2017, its founding agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), awarded $65 million to help realize this idea over the next four years. Of the six teams chosen to help create and demonstrate the high-resolution neural interface, three are pursuing optical technologies as part of an implantable system that promises a foundation for future therapies to restore sensory deficits. And optogenetics features prominently in each of these.
DARPA, the U.S. Department of Defense agency responsible for emerging technologies to aid the military, aims for an interface that would significantly boost the conversion of neurons' electrochemical signaling into binary code. The awards cover both fundamental research (to deepen understanding of how the brain simultaneously processes hearing, speech, and vision) and biocompatible technologies to efficiently interpret neuronal activity.