The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services) recently announced support for two research endeavors involving focused ultrasound. Each project is developing a different mechanism of the technology: one is neuromodulation and the other is sonogenetics, the use of ultrasound to control genetically engineered cells.
Neuromodulation for Pain and Depression Attune Neurosciences was named as one of the first performer teams in ARPA-H’s Evidence-Based Validation & Innovation for Rapid Therapeutics in Behavioral Health (EVIDENT) initiative, which is providing $139.4 million to support tools for evaluating rapid-acting and effective behavioral health treatments. The EVIDENT initiative was developed to accelerate treatments for serious mental illness by creating evidence-based comprehensive benchmarks that will serve as scalable, objective measures of behavioral health.
Attune is a San Francisco-based company developing low-intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation for the treatment of chronic pain and depression. The company was founded by Keith Murphy, PhD, and Rajiv Mahadevan, MBA, with the goal of improving the usability of focused ultrasound neuromodulation and developing it for at-home use. In 2022, Dr. Murphy received a Focused Ultrasound Foundation-sponsored award at the Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation meeting for his work on identifying cell- and region-specific neuromodulation parameters.
Sonogenetics for Future Therapies ARPA-H designated up to $41.3 million for a project titled “Using Sonogenetics to Replace Pharmaceuticals.” This Health Science Futures project is supporting the idea of translating sonogenetics for the treatment of several human conditions. Sonogenetics is a method of using focused ultrasound to achieve precise, noninvasive control over cellular activity. For example, researchers employ mechanosensitive proteins that make cells responsive to acoustic pressure, bypassing the limitations of invasive implants and tethered light sources.
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies will lead collaboration between multiple institutions to develop the tools, delivery systems, and preclinical evidence that are necessary to begin using sonogenetics in human clinical trials. The goal is to use sonogenetics as a drug-free way to deliver therapy precisely where it is needed to control cellular activity, alleviating various maladies such as peripheral neuropathy.
Salk Institute collaborators include researchers from Scripps Research, St. Boniface Hospital Research/University of Manitoba, Duke University, MIT, UC San Diego, California Medical Innovations Institute, and SonoNeu.
Learn More About ARPA-H Funding For the focused ultrasound community, ARPA-H’s investment is a sign that federal funders are recognizing the technology as a versatile platform for precise, noninvasive interventions with the potential to address unmet needs in brain health and chronic disease.