Assessing the potential of transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) to treat depression

Project leader: Dr James Hong, Academic Clinical Fellow

James has a special interest in the neural basis of mood disorders. His mission is to develop non-invasive neuromodulatory treatments tailored to the individual, and he has been studying transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS).

TUS is an emerging non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) technique that uses acoustic pressure waves to modulate neural activity. Compared to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), TUS can target deeper, subcortical structures with greater spatial precision and a good safety profile. 

Of these subcortical structures, the amygdala has been consistently implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. Indeed, the majority of neuroimaging studies show that:

• the amygdala is hyperactive in individuals with depression, and
• reduction in amygdalar hyperactivity is associated with clinical response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a type of antidepressant.

TUS has been shown to be safe to use in human amygdalar stimulation and can induce short-term neuroplastic changes. However, no study has robustly assessed the ability of TUS to induce longer-term plasticity, an essential step to translating this technique to the clinic, ultimately to treat patients with depression.

Forthcoming research

In his DPhil project, James will work with Professor Miriam Klein-Flugge and colleagues to conduct experimental studies of repetitive TUS. People with low mood from the community will be randomised to receive repetitive TUS stimulation, over multiple days, to either the amygdala or to an active control site.

James will conduct baseline and follow-up investigations, including structural, functional and diffusion neuroimaging, behavioural measures (emotional and reward processing) and subjective state measures.

The project will enable James to:

• investigate the casual role of the amygdala in emotional and reward processing in people with low mood, and
• assess the neuroplastic effects of repetitive TUS to the amygdala on brain networks and behaviour.

June 2025