Weekly Signal: 35 | Ultrasound, BCIs, and the Battle for Brain Data

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🧠 Weekly Signal

Ultrasound, Implants, and Neural Data
Neurotechnology News | November 22–28, 2025

Let’s cut through the noise this week!

This week, we saw non-invasive ultrasound modulate deep reward circuits and a high-bandwidth brain–computer interface move into a first FDA-cleared speech trial. Meanwhile, focused ultrasound startups raised capital and analysts projected double-digit neurotech market growth as U.S. states advanced neural data privacy bills. Bottom line: neuromodulation is maturing from lab to clinic just as lawmakers start treating brain data as its own regulatory category.

🧠 SCIENCE & CLINICAL TRIALS

🟢 Ultrasound Neuromodulation Alters Human Reward Sensitivity

Published: November 27, 2025
Read more ➡️ ScienMag / Nature

Researchers used transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) to target the human nucleus accumbens in 26 adults, showing changes in reward prediction error signals and win–stay learning behavior comparable to deep brain stimulation. The within-subject design contrasted nucleus accumbens, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and sham conditions, demonstrating site-specific modulation of fMRI activity and reinforcement-learning parameters under conservative acoustic safety limits.

💡 Big Picture: The study provides some of the clearest evidence yet that non-invasive ultrasound can reach deep reward circuits, opening a path toward DBS-like therapies without brain surgery.

🟢 FDA-Cleared Speech BCI Trial with Paradromics’ Connexus System

Published: November 27, 2025
Read more ➡️ Fox News / Paradromics

Paradromics received FDA Investigational Device Exemption to begin its Connect-One Early Feasibility Study, initially implanting two participants with severe motor impairment with a fully implanted Connexus BCI designed for speech restoration. The system uses a titanium implant with 400+ platinum-iridium micro-electrodes and a chest-implanted transceiver to stream high-bandwidth neural data that AI models decode into text or synthetic voice, with planned expansion up to 10 participants.

💡 Big Picture: This marks a pivotal move from preclinical performance claims to long-term human testing for high-bandwidth speech BCIs, raising the bar for clinical evidence in the implantable BCI race.

💼 INDUSTRY & STARTUPS

🟢 Cordance Medical raises $8M to open the blood–brain barrier

Published: November 24, 2025
Read more ➡️Pulse 2.0 / Cordance Medical

Cordance Medical closed an oversubscribed $8M seed round led by Sonder Capital, with participation from neuro-oncology–focused investors including the Sontag Foundation Innovation Fund and the Brain Tumor Investment Fund. The funds will support first-in-human trials of a non-invasive focused ultrasound system that temporarily and safely opens the blood–brain barrier, paired with real-time monitoring and patient-specific signal processing to improve delivery of drugs for brain tumors and other neurological diseases.

💡 Big Picture: Investor interest in blood–brain barrier–opening ultrasound suggests growing confidence that device-enabled delivery will become a core part of neurology and neuro-oncology treatment stacks.

🟢 Market Report: Neurotechnology Set for Double-Digit Growth

Published: November 27, 2025
Read more ➡️Exactitude

Exactitude Consultancy’s latest market analysis projects the neurotechnology sector to grow at an estimated 15–19% compound annual rate through 2030, driven by adoption of brain–computer interfaces, neurostimulation devices, AI-based diagnostics, and neurofeedback systems. The report highlights North America as the current revenue leader, with Asia–Pacific as the fastest-growing region, and notes rapid expansion in applications from stroke rehab and epilepsy to AR/VR control and mental-health monitoring.

💡 Big Picture: While the forecasts are directional rather than predictive, they reflect a maturing market where BCIs, neuromodulation, and AI neuroanalytics are converging into a recognizable industry stack.

🏛️ POLICY & ETHICS

🟢 U.S. States Expand Neural Data Privacy Laws as MIND Act Advances

Published: November 25, 2025
Read more ➡️ LexisNexis / NIH National Library of Medicine

A LexisNexis analysis reports that Montana and Connecticut joined Colorado and California in explicitly protecting “neural data” under state privacy laws, while at least five other states introduced related bills in 2025. At the federal level, the proposed Management of Individuals’ Neural Data (MIND) Act would direct the Federal Trade Commission to study protections for neural data, echoing scientific calls for regulation as consumer neurotech spreads beyond clinical oversight.

💡 Big Picture: Neural data is starting to receive its own statutory category, signaling that future BCI and consumer neurotech businesses will face brain-specific privacy rules rather than generic data law.

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