51³Ô¹ÏÍø

51³Ô¹ÏÍø researchers will receive almost £15m in funding to embark on cutting edge research to help overcome neurodegenerative disease.

The four 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-led projects are among 18 projects funded by the UK’s as part of a £69 million package to unlock new methods to interface with the human brain.  

The funding will support research groups across the UK over a period of four years. The programme ultimately aims to deliver breakthroughs that could help to treat many of the most complex and devastating brain disorders affecting individuals and communities worldwide. 

Regenerating damaged brains 

A £3.7m project led by , Head of the Department of Bioengineering, aims to restore damaged brain circuits, giving people with neurological disorders the chance to “reclaim their lives”. 

It will develop a new class of technology that can promote neuroregeneration, neuroprotection and neuroplasticity - the ability of neural networks to grow and reorganise in response to new stimuli – deep in the brain where damage has occurred due to illness.

The team hope that regenerative tissues can be delivered directly to damaged regions, using minimally invasive techniques, and can be activated by clinicians to deliver their healing effect. 

Working on the RESCUE: Regenerative Electroactive Scaffold for Circuit Unification via Electromodulation project with Professor Green is fellow 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Bioengineer , who is a Group Leader in the at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, and colleague , Professor of Biomedical Materials and Regenerative Medicine at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies at the University of Oxford. 

Professor Green said: “The main motivation that drives this work is that millions of people worldwide suffer from neurological disorders that not only rob individuals of their autonomy, but they also place a profound emotional and economic burden on families and society in general. This programme is more than just a funding opportunity, it represents a call to action. It invites us to dream bigger, think smarter, and work harder, together, to achieve something truly extraordinary.” 

Cutting-edge ultrasound tools

, also from 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Department of Bioengineering, and his collaborators share a desire to fundamentally advance neurotechnology. The £3.2m ARIA funding will help them to develop a non-invasive ultrasound tool to observe calcium and neuronal calcium signalling in the brain – where it regulates all the most important neural functions.  

Dysregulated calcium in the brain can lead to neurological conditions such as Down syndrome, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's, and a range of debilitating symptoms, including movement disorders, mood changes, and cognitive decline. 

With his expertise in super resolution imaging technologies for live tissues, Dr Tang is working alongside , Max Delbrück Professor of Chemical Engineering and Medical Engineering at Caltech and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, who first developed ultrasound biosensors for calcium and , an expert in sensory neuroscience and biophysics at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, on the project Brain-scale cell type-specific acoustic neural interface. 

Dr Tang said: “This ARIA Precision Neurotechnologies Programme is particularly exciting to us for its ambitious approach to support innovation at scale and speed, and its potential to drive transformative advancements in neurotechnology.” 

Targeted brain drug delivery 

A brand-new way to deliver drugs into targeted brain regions is the vision for the project Mosaic Neuropharmacology with Focused Ultrasound, led by from the Department of Bioengineering.

He says it could offer tremendous precision for neuroscientists and neurologists to explore and treat neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. 

Neurological conditions can affect very specific regions of the brain, which would be impossible to reach without invasive and risky procedures. The idea behind mosaic neuropharmacology is to encase pharmaceutical molecules inside nano-scale capsules that are administered into the bloodstream. In this project, harmless ultrasound - of the kind that is used to scan a foetus in the womb – is then used to release the drugs at the precise time and location they are needed in the brain.  

Dr Choi’s project, funded with £3.9m from ARIA, combines expertise from across disciplines in physics, chemistry, engineering and neuroscience. His colleagues from the Department of Bioengineering at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø: , , and , join with , Professor of Medical Imaging and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona, from the University of Michigan and from King’s College London. 

Dr Choi said: “This programme has set an ambitious vision for the future of neurotechnologies and has been willing to take the risks needed to realise it. Together, our multidisciplinary team brings the diverse expertise needed to create this innovative drug delivery platform.” 

Brain stimulation

Researchers from the Department of Brain Sciences and at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø will explore technology capable of precisely stimulating multiple deep brain regions implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. These include structures such as the substantia nigra which is affected in Parkinson’s.  

The project, with £4.1m of ARIA funding, will be led by in collaboration with also from The Department of Brain Sciences, from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, , Head of the Department of Bioengineering, and based at Newcastle University, as well as 51³Ô¹ÏÍø spin-out .

In a proof-of-concept study, the team aims to develop a minimally invasive brain stimulation technology, to demonstrate the approach in animal models.    

The new project builds on previous work led by Dr Grossman to develop and test temporal interference (TI) brain stimulation technology. The TI approach is being developed as an alternative to traditional deep brain stimulation for brain diseases, which requires electrodes to be implanted deep in the brain, carrying greater risk and complications. 

Commenting on the award, Dr Grossman said: “Our project brings together a team of diverse expertise, from physics and electrical engineering, through to material sciences and systems neuroscience. Yet, we share the same desire to develop technologies to help the millions of people around the world affected by neurodegenerative conditions. Bringing together our expertise, we hope to develop our TI concept into a powerful technology that can precisely stimulate any area of the brain.”

“These projects have the potential to unlock the complexities of the human brain, enabling us to understand and ultimately influence its activity with unparalleled precision. This could revolutionise the treatment of brain disorders, such as Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease.”  Professor Mary Ryan

, Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, said: “These projects have the potential to unlock the complexities of the human brain, enabling us to understand and ultimately influence its activity with unparalleled precision. This could revolutionise the treatment of brain disorders, such as Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease.” 

“Through this important partnership with ARIA, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø is strengthening its ability to push the boundaries of science and foster collaborations to address some of humanity’s most pressing challenges.' 

For more information on the project, visit the ARIA website. 

Image credit: NIH image gallery