This laboratory investigates how focused ultrasound interacts with neural tissue and how those interactions can be measured and controlled. We combine acoustic modelling, experimental biophysics and neurobiology to study neuronal and cellular responses, blood–brain barrier modulation and targeted delivery. Imaging, cavitation monitoring, microscopy and histology connect the applied exposure to its effects across scales. Within collaborative neurotechnology projects, the lab contributes ultrasound methods and experimental evaluation to integrated recording and stimulation systems, including studies of nanomaterial delivery and radiation response.
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Laboratory members
Additional laboratory members (9)
Research projects
Additional research projects (5)
Publications
2026
Journal of nanobiotechnology
Neuromodulation techniques have emerged as transformative tools for treating several neurological and psychiatric disorders, offering alternatives to traditional pharmacological approaches often hindered by the blood-brain barrier and off-target effects. While conventional modalities like deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and optogen…Read the full abstractCollapse abstract
Neuromodulation techniques have emerged as transformative tools for treating several neurological and psychiatric disorders, offering alternatives to traditional pharmacological approaches often hindered by the blood-brain barrier and off-target effects. While conventional modalities like deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and optogenetics have shown promise, they each face limitations in invasiveness, spatial resolution, or clinical applicability. In recent years, low-intensity ultrasound has gained attention as a noninvasive, deep-penetrating modality capable of modulating brain circuits with millimeter-sized spatial precision. This review explores the synergistic integration of ultrasound with engineered nanosystems to achieve multimodal neuromodulation such as electrical, mechanical, optical, and chemical via acoustic energy. We describe how nanoscale materials can transduce ultrasound into localized bioelectric signals, mechanical stress, light emission, or controlled drug release. These interactions enable precise, on-demand stimulation or inhibition of neuronal activity, including in deep brain regions. Experimental studies have demonstrated neuromodulatory effects across a variety of models, with applications ranging from optogenetics and drug delivery to behavioral modulation in rodents and primates. The review concludes with a critical assessment of the translational challenges such as nanoparticle delivery, biocompatibility, long-term clearance, and safety thresholds for human use while outlining promising strategies like cell-based delivery, biodegradable materials, and closed-loop control systems. These innovations highlight the potential of ultrasound-assisted nanosystems as transformative tools for precise neuromodulation in both experimental neuroscience and clinical applications.
2020
Frontiers in Physics
Focused ultrasound (FUS) neuromodulation has shown that mechanical waves can interact with cell membranes and mechanosensitive ion channels, causing changes in neuronal activity. However, the thorough understanding of the mechanisms involved in these interactions are hindered by different experimental conditions for a variety of animal scales and models. Whi…Read the full abstractCollapse abstract
Focused ultrasound (FUS) neuromodulation has shown that mechanical waves can interact with cell membranes and mechanosensitive ion channels, causing changes in neuronal activity. However, the thorough understanding of the mechanisms involved in these interactions are hindered by different experimental conditions for a variety of animal scales and models. While the lack of complete understanding of FUS neuromodulation mechanisms does not impede benefiting from the current known advantages and potential of this technique, a precise characterization of its mechanisms of action and their dependence on experimental setup (e.g., tuning acoustic parameters and characterizing safety ranges) has the potential to exponentially improve its efficacy as well as spatial and functional selectivity. This could potentially reach the cell type specificity typical of other, more invasive techniques e.g., opto- and chemogenetics or at least orientation-specific selectivity afforded by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Here, the mechanisms and their potential overlap are reviewed along with discussions on the potential insights into mechanisms that magnetic resonance imaging sequences along with a multimodal stimulation approach involving electrical, magnetic, chemical, light, and mechanical stimuli can provide.
