The research shows that a one-time, targeted procedure can modulate a specific brain region without impacting off-target areas of the brain. It is published in and featured on the cover of ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

“Many neurological diseases are driven by hyperactive cells at a particular location in the brain,” said study lead Jerzy Szablowski, assistant professor of bioengineering and a member of the Rice Neuroengineering Initiative. “Our approach aims the therapy where it is needed and lets you control it when you need it, without surgery and without a permanent implant.”

How the ATAC method targets brain circuits

The work builds on nearly a decade of innovation by Szablowski and his team. The group’s acoustically targeted chemogenetics (ATAC) method merges ultrasound, gene therapy and chemogenetics—a technique that equips selected neurons with engineered receptors so they can be activated or silenced by a specific drug—into a single tool that makes possible precise control over brain circuits without surgery.