Key Points
- ACNP held its 63rd Annual Meeting December 8–11, 2024.
- The conference included a dedicated session on focused ultrasound neuromodulation along with five posters on this subject.
The 63rd Annual Meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) took place December 8–11, 2024, at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona.
Founded in 1961, ACNP is an international research and education organization of brain scientists with expertise in neuroscience, behavioral pharmacology, clinical psychopharmacology, epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology, neurochemistry, neuroendocrinology, neuroimaging, neuroimmunology, neurophysiology, neurology, psychiatry, and psychology.
The 2024 meeting agenda included a dedicated panel of four experts who presented data from various clinical trials that each used focused ultrasound neuromodulation to treat a variety of psychiatric conditions.
Information about the panel, and links to five focused ultrasound neuromodulation posters, are listed below. Each title is hyperlinked to the full abstract and its data.
Panel
The Sound of Silence: Emerging Data of Transcranial Focused Ultrasound for Neuromodulation
- Gregory Fonzo, PhD (University of Texas Dell Medical School, Austin, TX) – Focused Ultrasound Amygdala Neuromodulation: A Brain Imaging-Coupled Open-Label Treatment Trial in Mood and Anxiety Disorders
- Darin Dougherty, MD, MMSc (Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University, Boston, MA) – Transcranial Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound of the Ventral Capsule/Ventral Striatum for Treatment-Resistant Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Brian Mickey, MD, PhD (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT) – Ultrasonic Neuromodulation of Subcallosal Cingulate Elicits Rapid Antidepressant Response
- Salvador Guinjoan, MD, PhD (Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK) – Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound of Human White Matter Tracts: An Opportunity to Advance Precision Neuromodulation Targeting in Major Depression
Posters
M201 Selectively Activating the Affective Efficacy of Ketamine via Regionally-Targeted Noninvasive Ultrasonic Drug Uncaging by Brenda Yu, Kanchan Sinha Roy, Sedona Ewbank, Mahaveer Purohit, Matine Azadian, Yun Xiang, Jeffrey Wang, and Raag Airan from Stanford University
T5 Evaluating Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (tFUS) for Targeted Neuromodulation in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Double-Blind Feasibility Study by Norman Spivak, Andrew Swenson, Bridgette Holland, Morgan Dancy, Ashley Hayden, Martin Monti, Samantha Schafer, Mark Schafer, Tina Chou, Darin Dougherty, Mark George, Taylor Kuhn, Alexander Bystritsky, and Margaret Distler from the University of California–Los Angeles
T44 Determining Optimal Parameters for Noninvasive Thalamic Neuromodulation with Transcranial Focused Ultrasound by Ryan Ash, Patricia Limon, Martin Scott, Morteza Mohammadjavadi, Kim Butts Pauly, and Anthony Norcia from Stanford University School of Medicine
T45 Repetitive Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Amygdala Neuromodulation for Transdiagnostic Mood, Anxiety, and Trauma-Related Symptoms by Bryan Barksdale, Lauren Enten, Annamarie DeMarco, Rachel Kline, Manoj Doss, Charles Nemeroff, and Gregory Fonzo from the University of Texas Dell Medical School
T237 Inhibition of the Left Amygdala via Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Enhances the Encoding of Emotional and Neutral Episodic Memories by Manoj Doss, Sydney Lambert, Charles Nemeroff, Gregory Fonzo, and Joseph Dunsmoor from the University of Texas Dell Medical School
Next Meeting
The 64th Annual Meeting of ACNP will be held January 12–15, 2026, at Atlantis Paradise Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.