Project Grant RF1NS132784

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) awarded a $2,359,174 Project Grant under the 21st Century Cures Act - Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative to The General Hospital Corporation, doing business as Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), to conduct research on the biophysical mechanisms of cortical microstimulation. The project aims to develop a more mechanistic understanding of how direct local electrical stimulation (DLES) affects brain function, with the goal of improving the design and implementation of more effective therapeutic neuromodulation approaches.

The research will combine single-cell electrophysiology, pharmacology, optical physiology, and computational modeling in both human and mouse cortex, both ex-vivo and in vivo, to identify the mechanisms by which DLES recruits different neuronal populations. The findings will be used to refine and validate a recurrent neuronal network model to predict cortical responses to novel stimuli and develop specific stimulation patterns to evoke desired neural outputs. This work is expected to catalyze novel, targeted, and mechanistically driven therapeutic approaches that could revolutionize stimulation-based treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders.

The project involves sub-awards to the University of Ottawa to support modeling and analysis, and to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to conduct animal experiments, analyze human tissue physiology, and analyze human intracranial recording data. The award period runs from September 2023 through August 2026.