Research Challenge Award 2022 Winner: Kevin Caulfield

We are excited to announce that Kevin Caulfield, Medical University of South Carolina has been awarded the Brainbox Initiative’s Research Challenge award 2022 for his enticing research proposal on Safety, Parameterization, and Mechanism of Out-Of-Scanner Transcranial Focused Ultrasound (tFUS).

Currently, Kevin is a PhD candidate in neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina. His research focuses on developing and refining multimodal brain stimulation and neuroimaging techniques for transdiagnostic applications. In particular, Kevin is interested in using electric field modelling for personalizing tES dosing, developing precision FUS with high target engagement, and characterizing the parameter space in accelerated rTMS. Kevin’s Research Challenge Award project seeks to refine our understanding of FUS parameters in healthy participants.

Specifically, Kevin proposes to study the effects of motor tFUS on motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and GABA concentration in a three-visit, within-subject counterbalanced experiment in N = 20 healthy controls in three aims over a 3-month period. Kevin tells us that “The proposed research is critical for understanding tFUS and advancing its therapeutic potential for future clinical trials.”

Kevins's winning proposal was chosen by the Brainbox Initiative's Scientific Committee, comprised of some of the world's leading non-invasive brain stimulation experts, for its ambitious aims, novel use of tFUS technologies, and clear and concise research timeline proposal. The Brainbox Initiative believes that Kevin’s proposal will help to contribute some essential research needed to the ever-growing field of Transcranial focused ultrasound neuromodulation research.

This Year, the Brainbox Initiative is happy to announce the additional sponsorship of a further two research proposals. Dr Nahian Chowdhury’s (Neuroscience Research Australia) research proposal on Altered cortical excitability during acute pain: A Combined TMS-EEG Study, and Laure Jacquemin's (Antwerp University Hospital, Belgium) proposal on Explorative study on the brain activity changes after (HD) tDCS. Our team is excited to help the fantastic research being held by these researchers.