Project description
Technological breakthrough in epilepsy therapy
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterised by recurrent, unprovoked seizures with existing therapies facing limitations. Funded by the European Research Council, the EMUNITI project bridges engineering and clinical neurology to create a groundbreaking, non-invasive brain stimulation device based on temporal interference technology. This technology delivers electrical signals to the brain at specific positions around the scalp which interfere in a way that blocks seizure-provoking brain activity. Researchers will generate a clinical prototype and evaluate it in epilepsy patients for both diagnostic purposes, such as seizure localisation, and therapeutic intervention. The ultimate goal is to extend temporal interference applications beyond epilepsy.
Objective
Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by sporadic debilitating seizures and declines in mental health. Available therapies suffer from drawbacks and are not suitable for all patients. The medical needs in epilepsy encapsulate those for clinically managing brain health in general, i.e. the need for precision, personalized, non-systemic and safer therapies. Potential innovative solutions are available from advances in technology but will require multidisciplinary teams which bridge between engineering and clinical neurology.
The main objective of the EMUNITI project is to develop a breakthrough, non-invasive, personalized brain stimulation device for epilepsy patients, (i) as a diagnostic for seizure localization which can guide subsequent surgical resection; and (ii) as a therapy, akin to immunizing the patient against seizures. The device is based on temporal interference (TI) of electrical signals delivered from positions around the scalp. The project will be led by Adam Williamson, who is a former recipient of ERC Starting and Proof-of-Concept grants and has IP for the technology. His lab is at the interface between state-of-the art engineering and neurology, and is based in a major European centre for clinical research on epilepsy in Marseille, France. His lab has already demonstrated in a pilot study of epilepsy patients, that TI can block seizure-provoking brain activity.
The project includes three work packages (WPs). WP1 focuses on optimizing TI stimulation at the engineering level and establishing a novel form of TI in multipolar TI (mTI). WP2 will evaluate mTI in epilepsy patients, for seizure localization and for therapeutic intervention with the potential to create brain seizure immunity through repeated mTI. WP3 administers the project and delivers the main outcome: a clinical prototype with closed-loop stimulation combining mTI and intelligent software. The successful outcome is anticipated to lead to other applications for TI in brain health.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineneurologyepilepsy
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
602 00 Brno
Czechia