02 December 2009

SynSonix ~ Dr Jamie Tyler in MIT Neuroven!

Excellent to have Dr Jamie Tyler and co-founder Dr Sumon Pal from SynSonix join us in our MIT Neurotechnology Ventures seminar this Tuesday night! SynSonix is using pulsed ultrasound to non-invasively influence brain function. That's quite compelling on several levels:
  1. It's using ultrasound which is a really under-appreciated stimulation and sensing modality;
  2. It's a plausible non-or-minimally invasive actuation mechanism for penetrating into the brain from the periphery;
  3. Their low-intensity method is within the range already FDA approved for classic imaging;
  4. There's a whole list of potentially addressable indications, including epilepsy, pain, traumatic brain injury, depression, noninvasive brain mapping, wakefulness, alertness, and dealing with various neurodegenerative ailments.
Their current primary focus is on becoming an alternative treatment mode for Parkinson's, in particular, replacing the deep brain stimulating electrodes which require a neurosurgical procedure to insert. If they can nail that, this is a huge deal and very exciting!

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