Stimulate and read
Focused ultrasound is only part of the solution. “We also need to be able to reliably measure brain signals that indicate different states of depression,” Costa says. “We use this to determine whether we should focus the beam on a spot where it will have a positive effect, or whether we should focus it on a different spot. This allows us to adapt the treatment to the individual patient.”
The researchers measure brain activity using EEG, and they try to recognize patterns in it. Both technologies – for reading and stimulation – integrate them into a single device that will be placed under the skull, but still on top of the outer protective layer of the brain (the dura). A second device, on top of the skull, serves as a wireless transmitter.
Essential collaboration
There are still many hurdles to overcome before this can lead to a technological breakthrough in the personalized treatment of depression. The challenges here are both technical (such as miniaturization, the battery, data compression) and medical (what is the target brain activity, and tissue compatibility?). The UPSIDE consortium therefore consists of many different disciplines: from bioelectronics to neurosurgery, and from brain-machine interfaces to psychiatry.
Costa’s role in this is to develop the best possible chips for treating depression. On the one hand, his multidisciplinary focus means that he has less time for pure microelectronics research. But he also realizes that this allows him to conceptualize larger systems, and that creativity flourishes precisely where different disciplines converge.
Electroceuticals
Neurons are the basic building blocks of the brain and nervous system. They communicate through bioelectricity. They control the movements and regulate breathing and all kinds of biological processes. Electroceutics are portable, implantable, and injectable biomedical devices that interact with the nerves of the human body, whether by electricity or otherwise. It is a new class of therapeutics that have the potential to treat certain diseases in a highly targeted, reversible and lifelong way. It has already been successful in certain neurological disorders and autoimmune diseases.
(Much) more than depression
The chip may be able to treat more than just depression. “It’s like a screwdriver, and could potentially be helpful in treating many different brain diseases,” Costa says. He is also developing chips with which they want to find out exactly how ultrasound activates neurons at a cellular level. Together with colleagues from his research group, he has plans to set up a small bio-measuring lab where they want to test both types of chips on living tissue, such as cells and slices of brains.
His ultimate dream is to contribute to a complete institute, with electrical engineers, natural scientists, mechanical engineers, even aerospace engineers, as well as biologists, neuroscientists, you name it. Costa: “It will have separate laboratories, but only one canteen and one place with coffee machines. Put different disciplines together for a long time and beautiful things come out.” It is his way of making the most of the fertile ground at the interfaces between disciplines, and of continuing to broaden his own horizons.