Introducing new tools for neuromodulation: Surgery-free options to improve human cognition and rehabilitate the brain

The field of neuromodulation has been making significant advances in recent years. It offers hope to many suffering from chronic pain, epilepsy, depression, and other psychological and physiological disorders. Until recently, the most successful treatments involved the implantation of electrodes into the brain, spinal cord, or peripheral nerve sites to directly stimulate the nervous system. Now, significant advances have been achieved using noninvasive techniques that generally do not require surgical intervention. These include the use of ultrasound, electrical, and magnetic stimulation. As we come to understand the workings of the brain, our ability to modify neural and biochemical pathways improves. Together with advances in the specificity, accuracy, and resolution of neuromodulation technology, this field provides great promise for the treatment of a range of disorders. In this webinar roundtable conversation, we’ll discuss these opportunities—and the hurdles that need to be overcome—as well as recent advances that offer clues to what the future of neuromodulation might bring.

During the webinar, the panel will:

• Introduce the audience to the range of neuromodulation techniques and where the field stands today
• Discuss recent advances in noninvasive neuromodulation that show potential for clinical application and the challenges in translating this work from bench to bedside
• Outline unanswered questions and future areas of exploration for noninvasive neuromodulation
• Answer questions from viewers during the live broadcast.

This webinar will last for approximately 60 minutes.

The brain is an exquisitely sensitive organ. Disruption of the smallest neural pathways and connections can have dramatic effects. Yet neuroscientists and neurosurgeons have managed to pinpoint—sometimes down to the individual cell level—disruptive signaling that can be targeted through the insertion of delicate electrodes directly into the brain to electrically stimulate nerve cells. But being invasive, these treatments come with a certain surgical risk that can sometimes outweigh the reward. An alternative solution that has a long history but has recently been gaining increased scientific attention is noninvasive neuromodulation using transcranial stimulation with electrical impulses, electromagnetic stimulation, or ultrasound treatment.

This webinar will introduce the viewer to some of the latest, exciting technologies in the field of noninvasive neuromodulation, presented by recent winners of the Science & PINS Prize for Neuromodulation and other experts.

During the webinar, viewers will:

• Learn how the many applications of neurostimulation technologies can enable personalized treatment for neurological and psychiatric disorders
• Hear about promising new noninvasive neuromodulation techniques such as transcranial ultrasound stimulation and high-definition transcranial alternating current stimulation
• Discover how increasingly precise and tunable neuromodulation techniques have potential applications for treating a growing number of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

This webinar will last for approximately 60 minutes.