Project description
Changing brain treatment with sound
Brain stimulation administered non-invasively may revolutionise the way we deal with conditions such as Parkinson’s tremor, essential tremor, neuropathic pain, and even cancer pain. Transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) is one such example, but the methods that exist today use expensive, invasive devices such as MRI and X-rays in order to correct distortions in the waves, making the process expensive and inaccurate. With this in mind, the ERC-funded LUMEN project presents a paradigm-shifting solution: wearable acoustic metasurfaces that regulate ultrasound waves at the origin. This makes tFUS affordable, efficient across variable skull conditions, and capable of targeting hard-to-reach areas in the brain. The overall goal is to make treatment safer and more inclusive.
Objective
Transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) is a promising non-invasive technology capable of targeting specific brain regions to treat, among others, movement disorders such as essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease tremor. Yet, its effectiveness is currently limited by the excitation of leaky Lamb waves, which radiate energy at arbitrary angles in the brain, causing undesired aberrations. To mitigate these effects, the state-of-the-art technology for tFUS relies on patient-tailored aberration compensation strategies that take advantage of more invasive techniques, such as MRI guidance and X-Rays, making tFUS not accessible for all patients, expensive, and not readily available for small-scale laboratories.
LUMEN addresses these challenges by dressing the patient with acoustic metasurfaces, engineered structures designed to manipulate wave propagation. Instead of compensating for aberrations a posteriori, this project leverages acoustic metasurfaces to control the leaky-wave radiation mechanism at the source, creating functional devices able to focus ultrasound without the need for more invasive and complex correction strategies, thereby revolutionizing the focusing mechanism of tFUS. This approach not only aims to make tFUS more affordable, but also enhances the ability of tFUS to reach peripherical regions of the brain that are typically hard to access and provides a focusing mechanism effective across diverse skull geometries, making it suitable to treat different patients.
The outcomes of this research have the potential to transform the treatment landscape for millions suffering from tremor disorders, neuropathic pain, cancer-related pain, while also advancing the fields of wave physics, medical imaging, and therapeutic technology. Achieving these goals could lead to more inclusive, non-invasive therapeutic options, greatly improving patients' quality of life and reducing healthcare costs globally.
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. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
20133 Milano
Italy
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