DARPA Grant for Advanced Focused Ultrasound Research

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has set up a new program to advance research into focused ultrasound and improve physical and mental health using targeted stimulation of peripheral nerves.

DARPA selected seven teams to work on the Electrical Prescriptions (ElectRx) program funded by a USD 3.3 million grant. The research team includes the Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (New York, NY, USA) and plans to develop new techniques to use focused ultrasound for stimulating peripheral nerves. This could eventually be used to control organ function.

The human peripheral nervous system modulates the function of the heart, stomach, intestines, bladder, and other organs. The researchers intend to map the neural circuits governing these systems, and develop minimally invasive neural and bio-interface technologies. The team intends to optimize the ultrasound parameters, and develop devices that can be worn. These devices would be used to stimulate the saphenous nerve in the thigh, and the team plans to evaluate how ultrasound can induce such effects.

Elisa Konofagou, professor of biomedical engineering, at Colombia Engineering, said, “What we’re working on is a very exciting application for ultrasound. We could, for the first time, provide a noninvasive approach to nerve and organ stimulation while at the same time advance our understanding of the coupling between the mechanical and electrical activity at the cellular, multicellular, and organ levels. We think targeted ultrasound could be a good option for managing conditions such as chronic pain and neuropathy. We know that, as ultrasound propagates through biological tissue. It exerts mechanical pressure on that tissue, which stimulates specific mechano-sensitive channels in neurons and causes them to ‘turn on.’ So we think that this is a way we can use ultrasound to turn specific nerves ‘on’ or ‘off’ depending on what the treatment calls for.”

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Colombia Engineering