TFUS transcranial ultrasound stimulator NeuroFUS PRO

Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (commonly abbreviated to TUS, tFUS, or FUN) is a new and exciting means of non-invasively modulating neural circuits in the intact human brain. Transcranial-focused ultrasound neuromodulation offers greater spatial resolution and depth of stimulation than is possible with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or transcranial electrical stimulation (tES). Why is TUS more accurate than other methods of non-invasive brain stimulation? Both tES and TMS are inherently limited in the accuracy and depth of the stimulation that they can apply. When applying transcranial electrical stimulation, for instance, the current is 'shunted' by the skull, meaning that only a very small amount of the total current applied by the stimulator actually reaches the desired site in the cortex. And while TMS does offer the ability to reveal the chronometry of neural processes with a reasonable degree of spatial resolution, it also suffers from a depth vs accuracy tradeoff whereby stimulating at greater depths in the brain necessitates a reduction in spatial resolution. Transcranial-focused ultrasound neuromodulation, however, offers a new means of modulating neural circuits by using acoustic mechanisms. TUS generates an acoustic wave via piezoelectricity - a technique in which electricity flows through a crystal, causing vibrations - with the energy generated by these vibrations being subsequently released through the ultrasound transducer. The shape of the TUS transducer enables this acoustic energy to be acutely focused on one point space,