Meeting Report: Neuroscience 2024

Key Points 

• The 2024 Society for Neuroscience annual conference occurred October 5–9 in Chicago. 
• Focused ultrasound was featured in 6 talks and 20 posters on diverse topics, including Parkinson’s disease, pain, and drug delivery to the brain. 
• The BrightFocus Foundation’s Alzheimer’s Fast Track meeting, held October 2–4, was the official pre-meeting of Neuroscience 2024.

The Society for Neuroscience’s annual conference attracts nearly 30,000 scientists and physicians from around the world. The program features lectures from leading experts, sessions on specialty topics, opportunities for professional development, and an exhibit hall showcasing the latest advancements in neuroscience. 

Neuroscience 2024 was held October 5–9 in Chicago. The meeting highlighted focused ultrasound research in 26 presentations on applications ranging from traumatic brain injury to essential tremor. 

Before attending the Society for Neuroscience conference, Isabelle Aubert, PhD, also shared her focused ultrasound work at a pre-meeting satellite session, the BrightFocus Foundation’s Alzheimer’s Fast Track 2024, aimed at introducing early-stage investigators to the latest advancements in Alzheimer’s disease research. Participants of the workshop had the opportunity to develop a collaborative mock grant application using focused ultrasound for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Fast Track 2025 meeting will be held in San Diego and will further explore the use of focused ultrasound for Alzheimer’s disease. 

“The breadth and depth of research presented on focused ultrasound this year was truly remarkable,” said Dr. Aubert. “From groundbreaking neuromodulation techniques to innovative therapeutic applications, it’s clear that this technology is shaping the future of noninvasive medicine.” 

Next Meeting 
Neuroscience 2025 will be held November 15–19 in San Diego. Abstracts are due Wednesday, June 4, 2025. 

Each focused ultrasound presentation and poster from Neuroscience 2024 is listed below. 

Presentations 
Biomarker, Drug Discovery, and Experimental Therapeutics 

• Dynamics of Focally Hyperconcentrated, Ultrasound-Triggered Drug Release for Non-Invasive Neural Circuit Manipulation by G. Aydemir, Neuroinformatics 
• Focused Ultrasound Increases Gene Delivery to Deep Brain Structure Following the Administration of a Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus in the Cerebrospinal Fluid by R. H. Kofoed, Aarhus University 

Brain-Machine Interface 

• Non-Invasive Focused Ultrasound of Spleen Requires Chat+ T-Lymphocytes and ⍺7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor to Reduce Traumatic Hemorrhage by C. E. Bravo Iñiguez, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research 
• Neuromodulation of the Celiac-Superior Mesenteric Ganglion Complex Using Non-Invasive Focused Ultrasound Stimulation Regulates Inflammation by S. Palandira, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research 
• Brain-Wide Non-Invasive Neuromodulation via Sono-Optogenetics by S. Jiang, University of Virginia and Stanford University 

Other Topics 

• Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation by K. Butts-Pauly, Stanford University 

Posters 
Methods to Modulate Neural Activity 

• Reduction of Water Exchange Rate in the Dorsal Striatum Following Focused Ultrasound-Induced Blood-Brain Barrier Opening: A Diffusion-Prepared pCASL Study by D. Liu, Zuckerman Institute 
• Noninvasive Targeted Modulation of Pain Circuits with Focused Ultrasonic Waves by J. Kubanek, University of Utah 
• Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation on Amygdala During a Facial Expression Recognition Task by Y. Wei, Osaka University 

Parkinson’s Disease 

• Neuronal Expression Pattern of AAV9-PHPeB Vector in Nonhuman Primate Brain After Striatal Delivery via BBB Opening with Focused Ultrasound: Comparison with Intraparenchymal Injection Case by N. Esteban Garcia, CINAC 
• Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Framework Nanoparticles Enabled Sono-Optogenetics for Parkinsonian Rats by I. Pyatnitskiy, University of Texas at Austin 
• Effect of Focused Ultrasound Subthalamotomy in Non-Human Primate MPTP Model by A. Reinares, CINAC 

Somatosensation 

• Investigating the Role of Focused Ultrasound in Modulating Pain Response by Altering CGRP-Mediated Cascades in Dorsal Root Ganglia by Y.-T. Lin, Taipei Medical University 
• Focused Ultrasound-Induced Changes to Animal Pain Behaviors and Peripheral Nerve Structure by T. A. Anderson, Stanford University 
• Perceptual Decision-Making Under Uncertainty and Surprise by D. Dogan, Georgia Institute of Technology 
• Ultrasonic Touch: Using Focused Low-Intensity Ultrasonic Pulses to Remotely Evoke Sense of Touch by S. Pridgon, Georgia Institute of Technology 

Biomarker, Drug Discovery, and Experimental Therapeutics 

• Brain Regional Specificity of Ketamine Action at Low Doses Revealed by Ultrasonic Drug Uncaging Using Acoustomechanically Activatable Liposomes by B. J. Yu, Stanford University 
• Enabling CNS Delivery of rhGAA in GAA KO Mice Using Focused Ultrasound by P. Nowlin, Brigham and Women’s Hospital 
• A Novel Image-Guided Focused Ultrasound Platform for Therapeutic Delivery Across the Blood-Brain Barrier in Mice by P. Durham, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
• Ultrasonic Cerebrospinal Fluid Clearance of Hemorrhage to the Cervical Lymph Nodes Improves Outcomes in Hemorrhagic Brain Injury by M. Azadian, Stanford University* 

Other Topics 

• Interval Timing Dysregulation in Essential Tremor by T. Ullrich, Brown University 
• Non-Invasive Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound Improves Neurological Outcomes and Ameliorates Neuronal Inflammation in Experimental Intracerebral Hemorrhage by W.-S. Su, National Taiwan University 
• Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound Improved Cognitive Function After Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury: Regulating the Activation of A1/A2 Reactive Astrocytes by N. Hsiau, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University 
• The Impact of Blood-Brain Barrier Modulation by Focused Ultrasound on Oligodendrogenesis for Neurodegenerative Disease by K. S. Noseworthy, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, University of Toronto 
• Investigating the Influence of Muscle Activation on Theta Burst Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation-Induced Plasticity in the Human Motor Cortex by N. Nasrkhani, University Health Network 
• Noninvasive Stimulation of the Sensory Thalamus Changes Sensorimotor Adaptation by S. Bao, Texas A&M University 
• Mesoscopic Imaging of Neurovascular Coupling in Awake Mice After Single and Repeated Focused Ultrasound-Mediated Blood-Brain Barrier Opening by N. Fomin-Thunemann, Boston University 
• Modulation of PTSD Symptoms with Focused Ultrasonic Waves by C. Lybbert, University of Utah 
• Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound Reduces the Activation of Microglia at the Tissue Electrode Interface and Increases Chronic Recording Yield by K. W. Gheres, Actuated Med., Inc 
• Interrogation of Cerebral Cortex Reorganization After Stroke Using Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation by S. Sun, CHUV 

*This work was funded by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. 

The Foundation thanks Dr. Aubert for her assistance with this meeting report. 

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