Project Description
The human brain is an incredibly powerful organ: it defines who we are, our personality, our interaction with the external world and the way we perceive our surroundings. Although on the macro scale, the human brain appears to be uniform, the picture is completely different at the micro scale. Vast connections of neurons, which form a complex network, make every human brain unique. This presents a challenge to standard therapeutic protocols, where the same sequence of stimulating pulses is used for every patient. Today’s therapeutic brain stimulation methods do not take into account the individual differences between people, nor do they take into account the changes happening in each individual’s brain from second to second. This may explain the variability of therapeutic effectiveness with current methods. Based on recent innovative research results at the University of Tübingen, we are now developing a new integrated brain-state dependent magnetic stimulation coil. This coils combines state-of-the-art electroencephalography (EEG) with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) into a simple-to-use “smart” closed-loop system. We expect that this advanced, individualized precision therapy will improve the therapeutic outcome and has the potential to support patient therapy at thousands of hospitals and clinics. The patent for the coil is pending.
The need for treating patients with neurological disease is large and growing. Globally, we are spending in excess of 10 billion USD on diagnostics and treatment. However, this market remains dominated by pharmaceutical treatment. TMS as the next generation of therapeutic brain stimulation has the potential to deliver a precise targeted therapy without the side-effects of drugs and without requiring surgery.
Dr. Christoph Zrenner
Diljit Singh Kajal
Ananta Nova Kälberer
Dr. Ujwal Chaudhary
