Science Corporation, The brain-computer interface startup founded in 2021 by former Neuralink CEO Max Hodak is launching a modern division of the company aimed at extending the life of human organs. And no, not brains.
Alameda, Calif.-based Science’s goal is to improve current perfusion systems that continuously pump blood through vital organs when they can no longer function on their own. The technology is used to preserve organs for transplantation and as a life-sustaining measure for patients when the heart and lungs stop working, but it is bulky and high-priced. Science wants to create a smaller, more portable system that could provide long-term support.
So far, science has focused on neural interfaces and vision restoration. The company is working on a “biohybrid” interface that uses living neurons instead of wires to connect to the brain. He soon plans to commercialize a retinal implant that has successfully restored some of the vision in patients with advanced macular degeneration, enabling them to read letters, numbers and words. Science acquired the implant in 2024 from French start-up Pixium Vision, which was facing bankruptcy, and overtook Elon Musk’s Neuralink in developing an implant for vision loss.
“In some sense, both technologies provide longevity, and that’s the goal of both neural interfaces and this,” Hodak says of organ perfusion.
Hodak co-founded Neuralink with Musk and others in 2016, but left in 2021 to found Science and serve as its CEO. Since its inception, Science has raised about $290 million, according to venture capital database Pitchbook.
Hodak was inspired to work on organ preservation after reading about case of a 17-year-old boy in Boston whose lungs stopped working due to cystic fibrosis. While waiting for a transplant, he was maintained on a type of perfusion called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). However, after two months on the waiting list, he developed complications that made him no longer eligible for a transplant. His doctors and parents faced an ethical dilemma whether to keep him alive on ECMO to serve as a short-term bridge. Eventually, the machine’s oxygenator began to fail and doctors decided not to replace it. Shortly thereafter, the boy lost consciousness and died.
Used during the Covid-19 pandemic for patients whose lungs have failed, ECMO machines are high-priced and resource-intensive. They cost thousands of dollars to utilize every day, and patients are attached to them in the hospital. They consist of a huge circumference of tubing that must be transported on a bedside cart, requiring constant monitoring and constant manual adjustments. Due to the high cost, not every hospital has them.