Meeting Report: Neuroscience 2023

Published:

Key Points

  • Neuroscience 2023 was held November 11–15 in Washington, DC. 
  • The Foundation co-sponsored NeuroPitch Night, where 10 startups competed to present their product ideas at the conference. 
Neuroscience 2023

Neuroscience 2023, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SFN), was held November 11–15, 2023, in Washington, DC, with an attendance of 30,000 researchers and clinicians. 

Suzanne LeBlang, MD, Emily White, MD, and Jessica Foley, PhD, attended several sessions on behalf of the Foundation, including a Foundation-sponsored “Neuroscience Meet Up” on Sunday night, which provided a forum for focused ultrasound experts to discuss clinical applications, including neuromodulation. The Foundation then co-sponsored NeuroPitch Night with MRCA and Corundum Neuroscience on Tuesday evening. At this event, which was attended by more than 150 people, 10 startup companies pitched their ideas, and the top three presentations were chosen to present live at the at the conference. The winning presenters were JelikaLite, InflammaSense, and NeuroBionics. 

“In the ‘Meet the Clinical Expert’ session, Wael Asaad, MD, PhD, director of functional and epilepsy neurosurgery at Rhode Island Hospital and vice chair for research in the Department of Neurosurgery at Brown University, mentioned focused ultrasound as part of the toolbox for the treatment of essential tremor, epilepsy, psychiatric indications, and Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. LeBlang. “Furthermore, I was incredibly impressed with the young investigators I met at SFN, including Shaikhah Alshuaib, a PhD candidate who is working with Jen-Wei Lin, PhD, at Boston University, and Bernie Owusu-Yaw, PhD, a fellow in Nick Todd’s laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.” 

Left: Bernie Owusu-Yaw, PhD Right: Shaikhah Alshuaib and Jen-Wei Lin, PhD
Left: Bernie Owusu-Yaw, PhD
Right: Shaikhah Alshuaib and Jen-Wei Lin, PhD

At least 40 posters and presentations would be of interest to the focused ultrasound community. To find the full text of all of the abstracts and presentations below, search the Neuroscience Meeting Planner or download PDFs of the abstracts. There were so many technical topics that you may also wish to search for your own key words. 

Abstracts 

  • Poster Session: PSTR058 Ultrasound Neuromodulation Techniques (17 posters). 
    • PSTR058.01/VV63 Direct two-photon imaging of focal and cell-type-selective ultrasonic cortical neuromodulation. 
    • PSTR058.02/VV64 Dynamic transcranial ultrasound to modulate human mood, behavior, and cognition by targeting cortical and deep-brain regions using NeuroFUS. 
    • PSTR058.03/WW1 The impact of focused ultrasound neuromodulation on cortical microvascular flow in vivo. 
    • PSTR058.04/WW2 Low frequency ultrasound–induced neural responses in the mouse brain. 
    • PSTR058.05/WW3 Neuromodulation of tactile responses in the primate secondary somatosensory cortex using focused ultrasound. 
    • PSTR058.06/WW4 Transcranial focused ultrasound modulating time-locked and delayed neuronal activities. 
    • PSTR058.07/WW5 An awake, head-fixed rat model for the characterization of neuronal responses to transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation. 
    • PSTR058.08/WW6 Ultrasound neuromodulation of peripheral fibers using a microfabricated nerve-on-a-chip platform. 
    • PSTR058.09/WW7 Endogenous mechanosensation constraints on in vivo sonogenetic modulation. 
    • PSTR058.10/WW8 A method for recording ultrasonic neuromodulation of single cells in mouse hippocampal slices with a perforated multi-electrode array (pMEA). 
    • PSTR058.11/WW9 Transparent ultrasound transducer as a cranial window allows neuromodulation and simultaneous multimodal optical brain imaging in awake mice. 
    • PSTR058.12/WW10 Sono-optogenetic deep brain stimulation via self-amplifying liposomal nano transducer. 
    • PSTR058.13/WW11 Development of focused low-intensity pulsed ultrasound devices as a modulator of neural activity and the foreign body response to implanted cortical electrodes. 
    • PSTR058.14/WW12 A comparison of the brain response to tactile stimulation with or without ultrasonic stimulation. 
    • PSTR058.15/WW13 Neuronal circuit modulation at single-cell level using a focused femtosecond laser. 
    • PSTR058.17/WW15 Evaluating the safety of transcranial focused ultrasonic neuromodulation for applications to human subject cognitive control research. 
    • PSTR058.18/WW16 Examination of low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) parameters for human neuromodulation. 
  • PSTR117.11/VV61 Hippocampal-focused ultrasound stimulation induces alterations in theta and gamma oscillation in the medial prefrontal cortex. 
  • PSTR208.12/AA28 Modulating brain rhythms of noxious heat pain in humanized mouse model of sickle cell disease using low-intensity focused ultrasound. 
  • PSTR309.15/XX19 Application of focused ultrasound to macaque FEF prior to onset of saccade cue elicits neural changes. 
  • PSTR309.16/XX20 Applying focused ultrasound stimulation prior to saccade elicits changes in behavior. 
  • PSTR339.09/Y15 Low-intensity focused ultrasound to human insular and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex affects measures of central sensitization and autonomic processing. 
  • PSTR375.14/WW41 Non-invasive focal delivery of viral neuronal tracers in the marmoset monkey brain with focused ultrasound. 
  • PSTR379.24/XX44 Effects of focused ultrasound on synaptic transmission at the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction. 
  • PSTR380.12/XX59 Transcranial focused ultrasound improves brain-computer interface by amplifying the targeted activity in visual cortex. 
  • PSTR413.14/DD1 Effects of focused-ultrasound disruption of the blood-brain barrier on parenchymal inflammation, behavior, and functional connectivity in the marmoset monkey. 
  • PSTR494.29/PP16 Focused ultrasound stimulation or surgical removal of the celiac-superior mesenteric ganglion complex alters pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in murine endotoxemia. 
  • PSTR509.12/WW68 Focused ultrasound–induced blood-brain barrier opening alters tight junction expression and efflux transport. 
  • PSTR509.13/WW69 Focused ultrasound achieves delivery of mRNA therapy to the mouse brain for lysosomal storage disorder Niemann Pick type C. 
  • PSTR509.14/WW70 Ultrasonic ketamine uncaging in rat medial prefrontal cortex induces an electrophysiologic pattern that outlasts its pharmacokinetics. 
  • PSTR532.01/O8 Focused ultrasound for improved delivery of AAV vectors to the brain for the treatment of Huntington’s disease. 
  • PSTR537.01/W7 Focused ultrasound as a novel non-invasive method for the delivery of gold nanoparticles to retinal ganglion cells. 
  • PSTR537.02/W8 Role of P2X7 receptor in focused ultrasound and microbubble–mediated blood-brain barrier opening. 
  • PSTR537.03/W9 Modulation of the septo-hippocampal circuit for enhancement of cognitive function by focused ultrasound. 
  • PSTR537.06/W12 Enhanced delivery of a low dose of aducanumab via FUS in 5xFAD mice, an AD model. 
  • PSTR540.28/Y11 Low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) for the treatment of post-traumatic headache (PTH): a pilot study. 
  • Nanosymposium: NANO61.04 Engineering viral vectors for acoustically targeted gene delivery to the brain across species. 
  • Nanosymposium: NANO71.05 Remote neuromodulation of visual cortex with transcranial focused ultrasound. 
  • Nanosymposium: NANO71.07 Towards clinical advancement of non-invasive circuit modulation via ultrasound-mediated molecular control. 
  • Nanosymposium: NANO76.04 Ultrasonic glymphatic manipulation–based therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. 

Neuroscience 2024 will take place October 5–9 in Chicago.