Study Goals
This study aims to develop a novel approach to non-invasive neuromodulation based on targeted delivery of neurotransmitter chemicals to the brain. The human brain is organized into functional networks for processing information, making decisions, and executing actions. Much is still unknown about how these networks function in health and what goes wrong in disease. This work will develop a new approach to manipulating the behavior of these networks, a process known as neuromodulation, with the aim of using the technique to better study brain networks and translating that knowledge towards treatments of neurological diseases.
Our Approach
This pre-clinical research will be carried out on rodents. Focused ultrasound technology will be used to transiently disrupt the blood-brain barrier in a targeted location of rodent’s brain. Neurotransmitter chemicals (such as GABA or Glutamate) will be injected into the rodent’s bloodstream, such that they leak out into the brain only at the site of BBB disruption. Functional MRI will be used to evaluate changes in brain function induced by the delivery of the neurotransmitters.
Funding
This study is supported by the NIH grant K01 EB023983.
Contact
To learn more about this study, please email Dr. Nicholas Todd at [email protected]