Marcus Kaiser

Open PhD position in our lab: noninvasive ultrasound vagus nerve stimulation as an intervention for mental health conditions such as depression

Deadline: Fri 9 Jan

Apply here:
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Searching for a Christmas present for a #neuroscience, #psychology, or #NeuralNetworks researcher?

You may consider 'Changing Connectomes: Evolution, Development, and Dynamics in Network Neuroscience' from @mitpress.bsky.social

mitpress.mit.edu/books/changi...

💡 Why it matters:
These results highlight taVNS as a promising, well-tolerated tool for modulating emotional bias, with potential applications in mood and anxiety disorders.

@FUSFoundation @NeurGear #mood #neuromodulation

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✨ Key findings:
Both E-taVNS and U-taVNS shifted emotional bias toward more positive interpretations, even for ambiguous faces.

Ultrasound stimulation showed better tolerability, suggesting strong potential for long-term use.

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ZenBud Ultrasound Vagus Nerve Stimulator Experience peace of mind with the ZenBud device. Using advanced ultrasound technology the ZenBud activates your 'rest' or parasympathetic system helping you be more relaxed and at ease.

Thrilled to share our preprint exploring how non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation can shape emotional processing in young adults.

🔍 What we studied:
We compared electrical (E-taVNS) and ultrasound (U-taVNS) stimulation (zenbud.health ) while participants completed a facial emotion bias task.

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Happy to be involved in this research, led by my colleague Dr Jeyoung Jung:

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation enhances emotional bias towards happiness in healthy young adults: A comparative study of electrical and ultrasound stimulation

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Understanding the high-order network plasticity mechanisms of ultrasound neuromodulation Author summary Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) offers a non-invasive approach to modulating brain activity, holding promise for treating psychiatric and neurological disorders. Despite its p...

Excited to share that our paper is out in PLOS Computational Biology! 🚀
🔗 journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

Joining forces between two fantastic laboratories @nplab.bsky.social @connectomelab.bsky.social 🔥

Join us as PhD student using noninvasive ultrasound neuromodulation on the project 'Reducing pain reactivity for children in the Emergency Department using non-invasive vagal nerve stimulation'

Find more information at midlandsmhndtp.ac.uk/applications...

#ultrasound #neuromodulation #Zenbud

Good to see so many Nottingham researchers at the @brainbox-init.bsky.social neuromodulation meeting!

A great meeting with ideas that we can bring home to our N3 neurotechnology centre
www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/centre-...

#tus #tms #tacs

It is not about particular countries but more that number of patents is not really linked to number of companies/employees

New: Zenbud ultrasound vagus nerve stimulation sham device cannot be distinguished from active device
www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/15...

We are now performing sham-controlled studies to observe cognitive and physiological effects...

#ultrasound #vagusnerve #neuromodulation

@mdpiopenaccess.bsky.social

Interesting to see that the UK is number 2 worldwide (after the USA) in terms of consumer neurotech employment, number of companies, and funding deals...

From Peter Schlecht's neurotech report at gppi.net/assets/Hensi...

yes, this is does not go through the skull: it just reaches branches of the vagus nerve around the ear

Great to see that the next generation of NeurGear's Zenbud ultrasound vagus nerve stimulator is now on sale!

First results show reductions in anxiety (neuro.jmir.org/2025/1/e69770 ).

Find out more about the device here:
zenbud.health/pages/anxiety

🚨 New Preprint 🚨

Targeting intracranial electrical stimulation (ES) to network regions defined within individuals causes network-level effects

By Cyr et al.

***
Q: Can we use individualized network maps from precision fMRI to modulate a targeted network via intracranial ES?

A: Yes!

🧵:

You need to be registered healthcare practitioner in the UK. If so, you can contact the programme manager Roxanne for the application form. The deadline is this Tuesday.

Are you a registered healthcare professional searching for a PhD position?

Using Zenbud #ultrasound #vagusnerve stimulation, the PhD position with me and Ben Marson is about 'Reducing pain reactivity for children in Emergency Departments'

midlandsmhndtp.ac.uk/uon-students...

We attended the London Great Exhibition Road festival over the weekend and 250+ people tried our Zenbud vagus nerve stimulation device!

One person suffering from anxiety/depression even came back on day 2 bringing a friend...

www.zenbud.health

#ultrasound #neuromodulation #vagusnerve
#ExRdFest

Our N3 Centre for Neurotechnology, Neuromodulation, and Neurotherapeutics has officially launched at @uniofnottingham.bsky.social

#neuromodulation #imaging #focusedultrasound @fusfoundation.bsky.social

www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/centre-...

30 April deadline approaching!

Last chance to apply...

Last chance to apply! Deadline: Monday 7 April...

Nice comparison of ultrasound and temporal interference stimulation in Table 3:
www.mrcbndu.ox.ac.uk/sites/defaul...

Ultrasound blinding option that is not mentioned is ventricle stimulation: doi.org/10.1016/j.br...

Join our lab for a year with the 'AI for Precision Neuromodulation' fellowship project!

Find out more at: encode.pillar.vc/projects/neu...

YouTube video by Brainbox Ltd Changing Connectomes: Improved Cognition Through Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation

My Brainbox webinar talk that I gave yesterday on Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation is now online:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ3E...

@brainbox-neuro.bsky.social

Postdoctoral fellowship on developing human closed-loop noninvasive ultrasound and magnetic stimulation is now available!

Find out more and apply here:
jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

In conclusion, our investigation in a high-powered awake non-human primate dataset shows that some FUS effects across the network last for an hour, maybe longer.

This approach could be translated to humans by using several acquisitions per subject or longer sequences.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...

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Conversely, brain metrics related to activity (fALFF) and signal homogeneity (ReHo) are altered for much longer: Going outside our time window of 100 minutes.

doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...

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We demonstrated that brain connectivity between the target and the rest of the brain was mostly changed for around 1h following the ultrasound
stimulation.

doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...

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In this article, we present results about one animal who underwent around 50 MRIs, half of which followed ultrasound stimulation of the left anterior part of the hippocampus, a promising target since it is involved in so many brain dysfunctions.

doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...

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I am very happy to share our latest work, led by C. Atkinson-Clement, C. Petkov, and M. Kaiser, on the temporal dynamics of brain changes following ultrasound stimulation in the rhesus monkey.

A huge thanks to all the team for making this work possible.

doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...

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