Headsets recording brain activity used thoughts to turn on an electronic chip that enabled the gene to release protein into mice.
Different types of thoughts produced varying amounts of protein, with volunteers in a meditation state producing the most.
Professor Martin Fussenegger said it was “a dream we’ve been chasing for a decade”.
Thought-controlled implants could help fight chronic headache, back pain and epilepsy, he said.
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s findings are published in journal Nature Communications.
The Swiss researchers were inspired by the game Mindflex, in which players wearing headsets use their brainwaves to "thought control" a small ball through an obstacle course by operating a fan.
In the experiment, volunteers wore brainwave-recording headsets linked to an electrical current generator.
By thinking in a certain way, they were able wirelessly to turn on the gene chip, causing it to emit near infra-red LED light.
This activated light-sensitive cells in the chip, triggering a cascade of signals and switching on the gene for a marker protein called SEAP (secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase).
Lead scientist Professor Fussenegger, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, said:
"For the first time, we have been able to tap into human brainwaves, transfer them wirelessly to a gene network and regulate the expression of a gene depending on the type of thought."
The implants would work by detecting specific brainwaves at an early stage and triggering the production therapeutic agents at just the right time.
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