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Advancing the state-of-the-art through multimodal Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (FUS)

Funder: UK Research and InnovationProject code: MC_PC_MR/Y002288/1
Funded under: Infrastructure Fund Funder Contribution: 310,840 GBP

Advancing the state-of-the-art through multimodal Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (FUS)

Description

Non-invasive brain stimulation equipment is a fundamental tool in neuroscience that allows activity in specific brain regions to be temporally altered. This is important for both basic neuroscience (i.e., understanding the role of a brain region during behaviour by temporally altering its activity) and in the clinical treatments of neurological/psychiatric conditions (i.e., rebalancing the activity of a brain region which is affected by disease). However, existing non-invasive techniques are restricted to brain areas close to the scalp and are unable to target critical deep (subcortical) brain structures. Given the essential role these areas play within behaviour and neural disorders, it is vital for new equipment to be developed that bridges this technological gap. Transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (FUS) has recently revolutionised the field by allowing, for the first time, the accurate and safe non-invasive stimulation of deep brain structures. Whilst FUS is now an established technique, combining it with neuroimaging techniques (i.e., magnetic resonance imaging), is not. The ability to perform FUS concurrently with neuroimaging opens an exciting window of opportunity to casually map human brain function during behaviour/cognition at a level of detail never previously achieved in health and disease. In addition, it will allow novel interventions to be developed for clinical populations. For example, ongoing brain activity (measured by neuroimaging) could be used as a signal to deliver temporally specific FUS (i.e., closed-loop stimulation) in order to restore normal brain activity/function. This application sets out the case for the purchase of the first commercially available system that enables FUS to be combined with neuroimaging techniques. The state-of-the-art combination of FUS-brain imaging promises novel insight across a large range of scientific areas (learning, memory, consciousness, attention) and neural disorders (Depression, Parkinson's disease, Disorders of Consciousness, Dystonia, Autism). The new equipment will be placed in a specialist facility in the University of Birmingham that is dedicated to the study of human brain health. This facility houses 5 separate brain imaging modalities/techniques alongside specialist trained staff. This will ensure that the equipment will be used rapidly and by the largest possible number of researchers in order to make the greatest possible advances in science and medicine.

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