Non-invasive Inflammatory Disease Therapy with Neuromodulation of Peripheral Nerves (nFLAME)

Inflammation and associated cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. Available therapies suffer from drawbacks and are not suitable for all patients.

Medical needs in inflammatory disease encapsulate those for clinically managing health in general, i.e. the need for precision, personalized diagnostics and safer therapies.

Potential innovative solutions are available from advances in technology but require multidisciplinary teams which bridge between engineering and clinical science. Within this project I aim to lead a research initiative that will bridge this gap. We will develop a breakthrough, non-invasive, personalized nerve stimulation device for inflammatory disease patients.

Our methods are based on my previous work on flexible electronics, wireless optoelectronic stimulators, and temporally interfering (TI) electric fields, providing i) a diagnostic for early inflammation disorders to guide early clinical treatment and ii) therapy, to stop later stage inflammation progression and reverse the disease.

The project has 3 work packages (WPs). WP1 establishes novel TI with more spatial control using electrode patches in rodents. WP2 evaluates light-activated subcutaneous electrodes for chronic usage in rodents. WP3 explores therapeutic intervention in patients with inflammatory disease. Successful outcome is anticipated to lead to applications well-beyond inflammatory disease in nervous system health.