2024-2025 Pilot Project Grant Awardees

Lorella Battelli, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Cognitive Neurology

Home-Based Non-invasive Brain Stimulation to Boost Vision Recovery in Partial Cortical Blindness in a Virtual Reality Environment.

The proposed study will test, for the first time, the beneficial role of noninvasive transcranial electrical stimulation on vision re-learning in the damaged visual system in a virtual reality environment, that will be available for home use in the future. If successful, this will dramatically change current research and clinical practice in this patient population. This new procedure will be eventually available to a very large population of stroke patients who currently have no accessible and effective treatment for recovery. Please visit Dr. Batelli's faculty profile page to learn more.

Kevin Caulfield, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Medical University of South Carolina, Psychiatry

Personalized Bilateral Hippocampal Transcranial Focused Ultrasound for Mild Neurocognitive Disorder

Dementia is an ongoing and growing public health crisis worldwide, with mild neurocognitive disorder (mNCD)representing a critical early symptom juncture where interventions may be particularly impactful. Transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) is a form of noninvasive brain stimulation that can activate deep brain structures such as the hippocampus, but its therapeutic effects for memory improvement have not been fully elucidated. This NM4R pilot grant will determine the utility of personalized tFUS in healthy older adults and patients with mNCD, facilitating the development of a future clinical trial applying multisession tFUS with the goal of ultimately preventing dementia.

Siamak Salavatian, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Anesthesiology/Cardiology/Bioengineering

Cardiac Neuromodulation: Closed-loop Multimodal Artificial Intelligence-assisted Neuromodulation to Treat Autonomic Neural Disorder during Heart Failure

This pilot study addresses a pressing public health issue—heart failure, a condition affecting nearly a million people annually, leading to frequent hospitalizations and increased mortality. This limited investigation aims to explore the potential of a sophisticated neuromodulation therapy to treat the disorder in the heart’s nervous system that contributes to heart failure progression and fatal cardiac arrhythmias. While this initial study is only a preliminary step and will not provide a complete solution, it seeks to lay the groundwork for potentially life-saving innovations that could improve heart function and enhance the quality of life for heart failure patients in the future. Please visit Dr. Salavatian's faculty profile page to learn more.

Minoru “Shino” Shinohara, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, Integrative Physiology

Movement-Associated Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Responsiveness Testing for Personalized Rehabilitation

This project will develop an integrated phone-based control system for movement-associated transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) and also assess individual neuromodulation responsiveness to brief tVNS. It will seek to pave the way for a non-invasive and effective neuromodulation intervention that can enhance motor recovery in individuals affected by stroke and various neurological disorders, including spinal cord injury. The study will be conducted in the Human Neuromuscular Physiology Laboratory.

Michael Vesia, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, School of Kinesiology

Personalizing Multifocal Transcranial Direct Stimulation Dose to Target the Motor Network in Older Adults

The proposed study will establish a mechanistic basis for future research to determine the optimal positioning and current output of multifocal HD-tDCS electrodes, using biological variables to target a spatially distributed grasping network and improve motor function. Please visit University of Michigan's Brain Behavior Lab page to learn more.b2lab.org