Neural Noise

Large-scale high-density brain-wide neural recording in nonhuman primates

3 min read

  • Methods for large-scale, high-density, brain-wide neural recording in nonhuman primates underpin next-generation BCI and neural data pipelines.1
  • The work is core to electrophysiology and neural signal processing (Nature).1 1

Gardner updates

  • A neural probe has been shown to reliably record activity of large neuron populations in the brains of non-human primates, validating the device and signal-processing pipeline as a standard preclinical step before human BCI trials. 2

  • Methods for large-scale, high-density brain-wide neural recording in nonhuman primates were reported in Nature, underpinning next-generation BCI and neural data pipelines. 1

  • A neural probe reliably records activity of large neuron populations in non-human primate brains, validating device and signal-processing pipeline as a standard preclinical step before human trials. 2

Weekly enrichment (2026-07-20)

  • The underlying study is Trautmann et al., “Large-scale high-density brain-wide neural recording in nonhuman primates,” published in Nature Neuroscience on June 23, 2025 (volume 28, issue 7, pages 1562-1575; PMID 40551025).3 4
  • The device is the Neuropixels 1.0 NHP, a high-channel silicon electrode array developed with IMEC and demonstrated by an HHMI-affiliated consortium spanning Columbia, Stanford, and UC Berkeley, extending earlier Neuropixels probes that had limited functionality in macaques.5 4
  • The probe carries 4,416 recording sites along a 45-mm shank (grouped into ~11.5 banks of 384 channels); a shorter 25-mm version with 2,496 sites was also fabricated, and a switch under every site lets users programmably select which 384 channels record.3 6
  • Programmable site selection enabled decoupling recording-location optimization from probe positioning, and the long shank provided access to both superficial and deep structures inaccessible to alternative technologies.5 6
  • The team recorded over 3,000 single neurons within a single session with one probe, and simultaneous recordings from over 1,000 neurons using multiple probes, at single-neuron and single-spike resolution.6
  • A demonstrated multi-area configuration recorded superficial motor cortex and internal globus pallidus (GPi) simultaneously by allocating 192 channels to each region via programmable site selection; other configurations packed multiple probes into a single chamber to target SMA, M1, and GPi.6
  • The authors report that the platform streamlines neural data collection at a fraction of the cost of existing alternatives, enabling experiment classes such as fine-grained electrophysiological mapping, spike-spike correlation measurement, and brain-wide recording at scale, which is directly relevant to clinical neurotechnology (deep brain stimulation and Parkinson’s targeting of the basal ganglia).3 5

Footnotes

  1. https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiX0FVX3lxTE0zdDdpdlo0TExMNC1BVkRlRG84R211MXlzZkJ1WDdTZVlmTzRKbEFwbmxZLWpObGJCTGhtQjl0VFp3SDR5TTNCZlVmVTN2M0hBWW44aGR6Y1JSUlg1ay1v?oc=5 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiiwFBVV95cUxPdk9WV19BZXpvQ211ZzhMRkNpQ09mSXMyd2NpbjR6VkpVWFB5OWJEcVhjR3hTa1VpWktjRXBuRUNUNnpsZlJ5VmJFNzVZRE1IRUtlRUM0YjUxUlVmV1hOc1dvNk1tZm5Ic3BTX3QwRjNKTXFwYzY0dkEwNkVCVlpVaml6dk0zNW9CYWFB?oc=5 ↩ ↩2

  3. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-01976-5 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40551025/ ↩ ↩2

  5. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-probe-reliably-large-neuron-populations.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12229894/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

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