Maudsley Neurotechnology Meeting 

The Maudsley Neurotechnology Meetings are monthly forum to discuss neurotechnological approaches for mental health disorders.

Title: Low-intensity ultrasound neuromodulation: a search and rescue tool

Abstract: This talk will present recent evidence demonstrating that Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS) can induce transient, targeted neuroplastic changes in the human brain, with implications for both mechanistic research and therapeutic development. She will highlight TUS’s precision in targeting deep brain structures, its value in probing neural circuits underlying decision making and learning, and its emerging clinical potential in psychiatric disorders where these neural signals are dysfunctional. Drawing on recent human studies; she will present evidence of TUS’s effects on task-related neural changes, behaviour and symptoms demonstrating its promise as a transformative neuromodulation tool.

Speaker: Elsa Fouragnan is a Professor in Neuroscience, the Director of the Brain Research Imaging Centre and founder of the Center for Therapeutic Ultrasound, at the University of Plymouth, UK. Her work focuses on the pioneering use of transcranial ultrasound stimulation in humans, particularly in brain circuits related to decision making and learning. Her career transitioned from biomedical engineering to neuroscience, with postdoctoral fellowships at Glasgow and Oxford. In 2018, she started her lab to study neuroplasticity induced by focused ultrasound in brain circuits mediating adaptive and dysfunctional decision making. After many proof of concepts studies showing that ultrasound can induced neuroplasticity in non human primates and humans, she is now bringing this technology forward to apply it to mental health disorders, particularly Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Alcohol Use Disorder. Her lab organises annual workshops to train academics and non-academics to use the technology and she is on the executive board of ITRUSST, a consortium advancing ultrasound for neuromodulation. Elsa is also a UKRI Future Leader Fellow, BBSRC recipient and an ARIA R&D creator.

Location: Join online via MS Teams https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/356731636634221?p=PHPuN951CtLNXsrpEx

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