Elon Musk’s Neuralink could soon implant its brain chip in humans: Firm wants to hire a director to oversee its ‘first clinical trial participants’

• Neuralink posted a new job listing for a clinical trial director
• The candidate would oversee the company’s  ‘first Clinical Trial participants’
• Elon Musk said in December that human trials would start in 2022 

By Stacy Liberator – Daily Mail Jan 20, 2022

Elon Musk has demonstrated the Neuralink brain chip in a pig, a monkey and new job listing from the company suggests we could soon see it preform in a human brain.

The firm is now hiring a clinical trial director, which says the right candidate will ‘work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink’s first Clinical Trial participants.’

The position is based in Fremont, California and provides the candidate with commuter benefits, meals and ‘an opportunity to change the world.’’

The listing also suggests the candidate will lead and build ‘the team responsible for enabling Neuralink’s clinical research activities,’ as well as follow regulations.

Although the posting does not say when the trials will begin, Musk revealed last month that they are less than a year away – meaning human trials could start this year.

‘Neuralink’s working well in monkeys and we’re actually doing just a lot of testing and just confirming that it’s very safe and reliable and the Neuralink device can be removed safely,’ Musk said during a live-streamed interview with The Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit.

‘We hope to have this in our first humans — which will be people that have severe spinal cord injuries like tetraplegics, quadriplegics — next year, pending FDA approval.

‘I think we have a chance of being able to allow someone who cannot walk or use their arms be able to walk again – but not naturally.’

Musk first unveiled his Neuralink startup in 2016, touting the technology as the key to helping paraplegics walk, the cure for depression and a way to merge humans with computers.

Neuralink’s system is comprised of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads that are stitched into the brain by a ‘sewing-machine-like’ robot.

The device pickups signals in the brain, which are then translated into motor controls.

Musk says that the technology has proven to be safe in the brain and can be easily removed, so the only thing holding Neuralink back from human trials is FDA approval.

‘Our standards for implanting the device are higher than what the FDA approves, just like our standards for safety are much higher than what the US government requires.’

Continues …