Central and peripheral modulation in mice and humans using focused ultrasound
Ultrasound has been consistently reported for neuronal stimulation for several decades in both animals and humans including eliciting brain activity detected by functional MRI and electroencephalography. In addition, this knowledge can be used to understand the differences between normal and pathological brains to treat patients. In the peripheral nervous system, the leading technique to treat peripheral neurological disorders is implantation of electrodes along the peripheral nerve and stimulating the nerve with electrical current. A noninvasive alternative that could treat neuropathic pain and suppress nerve activity constitutes thus an important challenge in interventional neurology.Our group has been studying the noninvasive stimulation or inhibition of both the central and peripheral nervous system in live animals. In the brain, we have shown that focused ultrasound is capable of noninvasively stimulating paw movement as well as sensory responses such as pupil dilation and eye movement when different brain regions are targeted, showing for the first time that ultrasound can trigger both motor and sensory brain responses. In the periphery, when the ultrasound beam is focused on the sciatic nerve in a live, anesthetized animal, the thigh muscle becomes activated and muscle twitches can be induced at low ultrasonic intensities while the same twitches can be inhibited at higher intensities due to associated temperature rise that inhibits nerve firing. In humans, a peripheral sensory response has also been elicited. Cellular and fiber responses in excised tissue have confirmed the live animal responses. An overview of the aforementioned findings together with the most recent results will be presented.
Elisa E. Konofagou, PhD

Elisa E. Konofagou is the Robert and Margaret Hariri Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor Radiology as well as Director of the Ultrasound and Elasticity Imaging Laboratory at Columbia University in New York City. Her main interests are in the development of novel elasticity imaging techniques and therapeutic ultrasound methods and more notably focused ultrasound in the brain for drug delivery and stimulation, myocardial elastography, electromechanical and pulse wave imaging, harmonic motion imaging with several clinical collaborations in the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and elsewhere. Elisa is an Elected Fellow of the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering, a member of the IEEE in Engineering in Medicine and Biology, IEEE in Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society, the Acoustical Society of America and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. She has co-authored over 200 published articles in the aforementioned fields. Prof. Konofagou is also a technical committee member of the Acoustical Society of America, the International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound, the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology conference (EMBC), the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). Elisa serves as Associate Editor in the journals of IEEE Transactions in Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, Ultrasonic Imaging and Medical Physics, and is recipient of awards such as the CAREER award by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Nagy award by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as others by the American Heart Association, the Acoustical Society of America, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the Wallace H. Coulter foundation, the Bodossaki foundation, the Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).