Five original projects have been funded by Neuromod+ in our final call for feasibility studies. 

Mahnaz Arvaneh, Daniel Blackburn, Lise Sproson & Ismail Yussuf’s Bridging the Gap: Promoting Acceptance and Inclusivity of Non-Invasive Neurotechnology in Ethnic Minority Communities builds on their previous Neuromod+ award, Fostering Acceptance and Inclusivity of Non-Invasive Neurotechnology in African Ethnic Minority Communities, to co-create video interviews with end users and clinicians, to address the unique needs and concerns of these communities, and demonstrate the positive impact of neurotechnology on health and well-being, promoting its acceptance and inclusivity.

Elsa Fouragnan & Samuel Hughes’s Leveraging Multisite Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation of the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex for Endogenous Pain Modulation aims to pave the way for groundbreaking clinical applications in pain management by capitalising on the response of brain cells to transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) to precisely target multiple subsections of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.

Richard Morriss & Paul Briley’s Personalised dual-site dual-device neuromodulation for anxiety will investigate the mechanisms of action of simultaneous transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), and its potential for treating anxiety symptoms.

Kat Dyke, Domenica Veniero, Lugi tame and Nicholas Holmes’s Reliability and optimization of somatosensory afferent inhibition (SAI) as a clinical biomarker in healthy ageing will combine non-invasive brain stimulation and a brain imaging approach called ‘electroencephalography’ (EEG) to improve understanding of how the healthy brain ages.

Charlotte Stagg, Polytimi Frangou, Saad Jbabdi, William Clarke, Elly Martin & Angelika Zarkali’s Using neurophysiology and multimodal MRI to characterise cholinergic potentiation by Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation of deep- and mid-brain structures will use focused ultrasound neuromodulation and spectroscopic imaging tools to investigate the role of Acetylcholine (ACh) in the human brain. ACh is one of the most important neurochemicals in the brain and its deficit is linked to neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The study will set foundations for developing ACh-enhancing therapeutic interventions against cholinergic deficits.

We are delighted to have been able to award seven new projects in the latest Neuromod+ funding call. Projects cover varied topics, from acceptance of neurotechnology among ethnic minority communities, to investigating how focussed ultrasound works in neuromodulation and looking at new approaches for enhancing memory performance. The wide range of disorders addressed in the funded projects (including motor neurone disease, memory disorders, mental health conditions and other neurological and neurodegenerative conditions), highlight the potential of minimally invasive neuromodulation to be applied to a huge variety of conditions and disorders.

A list of the projects awarded is below. Find out more on the funding page of our website.

• Mahnaz Arvaneh: Fostering Acceptance and Inclusivity of Non-Invasive Neurotechnology in African Ethnic Minority Communities
• Rob Dineen: Clinical Trial Readiness for Non-Invasive Therapeutic Neuromodulation in Ataxia Telangiectasia
• Tracy Farr: Understanding the mechanisms by which low intensity focussed ultrasound is able to modulate neural activity
• Marcus Kaiser: Closed-loop focused ultrasound neuromodulation: Testing different strategies in healthy human participants
• Alekhya Mandali: Optimising transcranial electrical stimulation for motor neurone disease
• Jacinta O’Shea: Remediating depressive cognition using a novel brain stimulation device
• Simon Schultz: Sharp-wave ripple triggered neuromodulation for memory enhancement