Article

From brain prostheses to the 3D brain: Ed Boyden on the future of neuroscience

By John Murray

Recently I had a chance to chat with MIT neuroscience wunderkind Ed Boyden. Boyden, along with Bryan Johnson of OS Fund and Jane Metcalfe of NEO.LIFE, participated in the keynote fireside chat Neuroscience + synthetic biology: The neobiological revolution at SynBioBeta 2018 last month.

Anywhere Boyden goes, he is undoubtedly the smartest person in the room. The 39-year-old Texas native graduated from MIT at age 19 with three degrees—a bachelor’s and master’s in electrical engineering and computer science, plus a bachelor’s in physics—before moving to Stanford University where he earned a PhD in neuroscience.

Neuroscience is, of course, a hot topic in Silicon Valley. Several marquee names have launched projects aimed at creating brain-computer interfaces, most notably Bryan Johnson’s Kernel, Elon Musk’s Neuralink, and Mark Zuckerberg’s Building 8.

Though Boyden has advised a few startups, including Kernel, his abiding interest in neuroscience is not commercial. “I’m not a business person,” he tells me. In fact, his interest goes beyond scientific discovery. He wants to better understand the human condition and alleviate the suffering caused by neurological disorders.

Related Content