Funding from the UK Advanced Research + Invention Agency’s Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies programme will accelerate development of NeuroBionics’ hair-thin endovascular device
CAMBRIDGE, MA — November 5, 2026 — NeuroBionics, a neurotechnology company developing minimally invasive implantable devices for neuromodulation therapy, today announced it has received a £4.6M grant from the UK’s Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA). The award is part of ARIA’s £50M Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies programme, which is funding radically new ways to deliver responsive neurotechnologies to the brain without brain surgery.
The grant will accelerate development of NeuroBionics’ endovascular neuromodulation platform: a hair-thin device deployed through blood vessels to deliver therapy to targets in the brain and across the body. Building on more than a decade of innovation at MIT, NeuroBionics aims to eliminate the open surgical procedures required to implant today’s neuromodulation devices and expand access to these therapies for millions of patients with neurological disorders.
“Neuromodulation can be a life-changing therapy, but today only a small fraction of patients can access it, in large part because the implantation of neuromodulation devices is so invasive. Our mission is to close that gap,” said Dr. MJ Antonini, CEO and co-founder of NeuroBionics. “ARIA’s support lets us build faster towards a device that a physician can place through a short endovascular procedure instead of an open brain surgery. We’re honored to join a programme that shares our conviction that these therapies should be available at scale.”
Neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders are the leading cause of disability worldwide, yet the most advanced treatments still depend on complex surgery. That limits access to the most severe cases and rules out early intervention for most patients. ARIA’s programme is targeting a new class of brain-surgery-free neurotechnologies that reach the central nervous system through the body’s natural pathways, with the ambition of a responsive system deployable in under 30 minutes.
“Neurotechnology can transform lives, but the burden of getting treatments to the brain limits who can benefit,” commented Jacques Carolan, Programme Director at ARIA. “These ten teams are testing radically different access routes and technologies — from blood vessels, the nasal passage and airways; to engineered cells, nanoparticles and soft robotics. Each is a 36-month feasibility study, so the first question is whether the underlying science and engineering can work. Together, they could establish an entirely new paradigm to access, sense and modulate the brain without conventional brain surgery.”
ARIA’s Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies programme sits within its Scalable Neural Interfaces opportunity space and is led by Programme Director Jacques Carolan. Its first technical area, Delivery + Performance, funds responsive neural interfaces that can reliably reach deep or clinically validated brain targets without transcranial surgery.
In collaboration with Oxford’s Dr. David Paterson & Dr. Alex Green, Imperial College’s Dr. Shah Islam, and Prof. Justin Perkins from the Royal Veterinary College, NeuroBionics’ project will focus on adapting the evStim platform for the small-diameter tortuous vascular anatomy of the brain, developing modeling frameworks to identify stimulation targets, and exploring novel stimulation methods to extend the stimulation field beyond the vessel. The project will include preclinical safety and efficacy evaluations to prepare the device for translation into the clinic.
“We’ve spent years engineering fibers thin enough to travel through blood vessels in the brain and capable of delivering precise, reliable neuromodulation,” said Dr. Nicki Driscoll, CTO and co-founder of NeuroBionics. “This funding allows us to push the platform through the next stage of development and validation.”
NeuroBionics’ core technology originates from the laboratory of Prof. Polina Anikeeva at MIT. The company’s IO Fiber platform, a multifunctional neural probe, is already in use by research labs and is backed by a Phase II SBIR award from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Notes to editors
This project is funded by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency as part of its Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies programme under grant number 6927. Backed by £50M, this programme aims to deliver responsive neurotechnologies to the brain without brain surgery.
Media enquiries about ARIA or the programme: press@aria.org.uk
About NeuroBionics
NeuroBionics is building the future of precision bioelectronic medicine by developing implantable devices capable of delivering neuromodulation therapies in the brain and across the body through a minimally invasive endovascular approach. Leveraging over a decade of innovation at MIT, NeuroBionics was co-founded by Dr. MJ Antonini, Dr. Nicki Driscoll, and Prof. Polina Anikeeva with the mission to expand access to neuromodulation therapies. NeuroBionics is backed by leading investors including Dolby Family Ventures and Future Ventures. Learn more at neurobionics.io.
About ARIA
The Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) is a UK research and development funding agency created to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone. ARIA backs bold, high-risk, high-reward research across a set of opportunity spaces, including Scalable Neural Interfaces. ARIA is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. Learn more at aria.org.uk.
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