Technology
Wearable scanner gives insight on how brain signals change as people age
A new study has shown how aspects of brain function change with age, revealing that excitatory processes in the brain decrease, while inhibitory processes increase as children get older. The findings are an important step in understanding disorders like autism.
Brain function is based on a delicate balance of excitatory processes which make brain cells fire, and inhibitory processes which stop brain cells firing.
This is known as the E-I balance. Usually, to measure this, sensors would need to be placed in the brain which requires experimental surgery and so cannot be routinely done in humans. In this new study, scientists have shown that it can be measured using a novel wearable brain scanner.
Researchers from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto scanned the brains of 101 healthy children and adults between the ages of two and 34 years. Using a wearable design of magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanner, the team were able to measure high frequency brain waves (known as gamma waves) that are generated in brain circuits that rely on both excitatory and inhibitory inputs.
The researchers showed that gamma waves change significantly with age, with low amplitude broadband waves in children and high amplitude narrowband waves in adults.
Using biophysical models of the measured gamma waves, the research team were then able to translate their findings into measurements of E-I balance, showing that as children get older excitatory processes decrease, while inhibitory processes increase. This trajectory is critical for healthy brain development and is understood to be atypical in older children and adults with psychiatric disorders.
This provides a benchmark (in typically developing young children) against which disorders like autism can be understood.
Psychiatric disorders are due to atypical brain function, which can be measured with a range of brain imaging technologies, such as MRI, EEG and MEG. Childhood disorders, however, can emerge in the early years of life (two to four years of age), but there are limited ways to investigate the brain function in children who are this young.
The wearable brain scanner is based on quantum technology, and uses LEGO-brick-sized sensors – called optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) – which are incorporated into a lightweight helmet to measure the magnetic fields generated by brain activity. This unique design means the system can be adapted to fit any age group, including very young children.
The system takes only seconds to set up, and children wear it and can move freely during a scan. It is therefore ideally suited to scanning children.
Professor Matthew Brookes from the University of Nottingham’s Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre has led the development of the new technology which is now being installed across the world by Nottingham-based spin-out company Cerca Magnetics.
Brookes said: “Quantum technologies have revolutionised what is possible with brain imaging. 10 years ago measuring MEG signals in very young children as they move around freely, whilst wearing what is essentially a hat, seemed like science fiction. Now, it’s possible and it’s opening up new worlds of possibility – particularly related to the developing brain in the early years of life.”
World renowned neuroscientist Dr Margot Taylor – who leads autism research at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto – said: “OPM technology allows us to complete studies in young children that were simply not possible otherwise. We are able to obtain fantastic data in one-year-olds; our next frontier is having the same success in infants from birth. We expect that these studies will give us better understanding of the early onset of neurodevelopmental disorders, which will help in the care of the children in the future.”
Study lead, Dr Natalie Rhodes who, said: “Just like a well-tuned orchestra, our brains rely on a delicate balance of signals. We now have a way to measure how this balance changes from early life to adulthood and can use this to better understand developmental differences in conditions like autism.
“We know that an imbalance in brain signals is linked to neurodevelopmental conditions, but until now, we haven’t had a suitable method to measure it in young children. Using OPM technology, we can now study brain function with unprecedented precision from very young children.”
The University of Nottingham launched Cerca Magnetics in 2020 to commercialise OPM-MEG scanners and related technologies. The wearable system has been installed in a number of high profile research institutions across the globe, including at SickKids in Toronto where around half of the volunteers in the current study were scanned.
The research teams in both institutions are working together to expand the range and extent of neurodevelopmental data, in both healthy and atypical brain populations.
We round up the latest ageing and longevity investment news.
Regenerative cellular medicine company Celularity Inc has secured a US$10m financing package to support its healthy-ageing innovations.
The NASDAQ-listed business which focuses on addressing age-related and degenerative diseases secured the financing from Philip Barach, co-founder and former president of US investment house DoubleLine Capital.
“This closing strengthens Celularity’s financial position and provides meaningful flexibility as we continue to analyse and prioritise our platform and pipeline,” said Dr Robert Hariri, chairman and chief executive officer of Celularity.
Celularity develops and commercialises off-the-shelf, allogeneic cell therapies and advanced biomaterial products derived from the postpartum placenta.
Dr Hariri added, “In the new year, we intend to more fully articulate Celularity’s corporate strategy, including our plan to align our scientific capabilities with long-term opportunities in longevity and age-related disease.
“Our objective is to reshape Celularity into a durable, disciplined organisation that can translate innovation into sustainable value for patients and shareholders.”
GlycanAge boost
UK innovators GlycanAge has raised EUR7.4m (US$8.7m) as it looks to bring its diagnostics technology into mainstream care.
The investment round, totalling US$10m, is led by Fifth Quarter Ventures with participation from Guinness Ventures, BrightCap Ventures, South Central Ventures, Impetus Capital, Vesna Deep Tech VC and Lightfield Equity.
Its existing backers, which include LaunchHub Ventures and Kadmos Capital, have delivered pro-rata support, too. In 2024, GlycanAge raised a US€3.9m seed round.
Glycans are complex sugars that coat cells and many proteins, helping control immunity and cell signalling.
GlycanAge technology reads these signals to estimate biological age and deliver timely warnings of disease development.
Prof Gordan Lauc, co-founder and chief scientific officer of GlycanAge, said: “Our goal is to make glycan testing part of standard preventive diagnostics, where everyone over the age of 30 can access it through their healthcare provider.”
Chinese researchers say they have developed a new model capable of predicting the degree of ageing in individual human organs, allowing for a more precise assessment of how different organs age over time.
US$16.5m boost for biomarker start-up
The research team at Xi’an Jiaotong University said previous studies had largely focused either on general characteristics of overall ageing, which made it difficult to identify distinct genetic patterns and molecular pathways linked to the ageing of specific organs.
In the new study, the researchers identified 554 genes associated with a high risk of organ ageing, saying this allowed their model to lead to the early screening of high-risk groups, and identify causal links between organ ageing and chronic diseases, thereby supporting disease prevention efforts.
Glucose biomarker startup Liom has secured an additional US$16.5m for its Series A financing, bringing the round to US$48m, as it succeeded in shrinking its non-invasive, biomarker-monitoring platform to wearable size.
The Swiss company is developing a glucose-monitoring wearable, capable of providing continuous metabolic insight – without requiring needles or user calibration – and is targeting a commercial launch in 2028.
The vast majority of glucose monitoring devices currently rely on microneedles inserted under the skin.
Bank secures longevity boost
Almost 40 per cent of respondents to Life Time’s annual report identify that longevity is the wellness trend most likely to define 2026.
Findings from Life Time’s annual health and wellness survey, indicate strength training, and longevity health habits, are key priorities for Americans in 2026.
“People are training more intentionally, to feel and perform better for longer – and pairing that with smarter recovery and objective health metrics,” said Danny King, director of recovery and performance at Life Time, one of America’s leading healthy lifestyle brands.
The increasing longevity of its former employees has seen Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Limited enter into three new longevity insurance and reinsurance transactions, safeguarding a further £4.8bn of pension liabilities against the risk of unexpected increases in member life expectancy.
Vicky Paramour, trustee director and chair of the investment & funding committee, said: “We are pleased to have successfully completed these transactions, which further reduce the Schemes’ exposure to longevity risk and make the schemes more secure to the benefit of all members.”
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared an automated brain fluid device designed to help ease intensive care nursing shortages.
Seattle-based BrainSpace said its Intellidrop system integrates hardware and software to enable continuous brain pressure measurement and closed-loop, gravity-driven drainage of cerebrospinal fluid, the liquid that surrounds and cushions the brain and spinal cord.
The device is indicated to provide external drainage of cerebrospinal fluid and/or monitoring of cerebrospinal fluid drainage and intracranial pressure (pressure inside the skull) for ventricular or lumbar use.
Caitlin Morse, BrainSpace chief executive and co-founder, said: “We’ve heard from hundreds of ICU nurses that automating external CSF clearance is going to be a huge relief for nurses and a better experience for patients with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Stroke, skull base tumour surgeries, neurodegenerative conditions like Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus and more.
“That hope can now become a reality in hospitals around the US with Intellidrop FDA cleared.”
According to a Lancet study, one in three people globally will face neurological injury, illness or degeneration in their lifetime.
BrainSpace said the Intellidrop generates novel, multimodal, contextualised data that is key to training Physical AI models.
The company believes automating brain pressure management will make care more accessible and allow clinicians to introduce more personalised approaches.
BrainSpace was founded in 2021 and is a past winner of the Seattle Angel Conference and Flywheel Investment Conference, and a grand finalist in MedTech Innovator 2024.
Insilico has signed a multi-year US$888m oncology deal with Servier to use AI in discovering and developing cancer therapies.
The AI-driven drug discovery company will use its Pharma.AI platform to identify and advance potential drug candidates, while Servier will lead clinical validation, regulatory interactions and worldwide commercialisation.
Under the agreement, Insilico will be eligible to receive up to US$32m in upfront and near-term research and development payments, with Servier sharing R&D costs.
Christophe Thurieau, executive director of research at Servier, said: “This collaboration underscores Servier’s commitment to applying cutting-edge technologies to address unmet medical needs for the benefit of patients and reflects our confidence in Insilico’s internally developed and validated AI platform.”
Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and chief executive of Insilico Medicine, said: “I am excited to see the collaboration—it is yet another strong acknowledgement of our AI capabilities and R&D expertise.
“As we deepen the integration of generative AI into every stage of the pharma value chain, I believe the future of pharmaceutical superintelligence is never so close, where AI agents could actually make decisions and design experiments, driving a virtuous cycle of faster, smarter, and safer drug development.”
Insilico said it has nominated 20 preclinical candidates from 2021 to 2024, with an average timeline of 12 to 18 months per programme, compared with an industry average of 4.5 years for early-stage drug discovery.
The company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 30 December 2025.
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