Over the past several years, our research team has focused on decoding the complex link between ASD patients' clinical symptoms and their underlying neurophysiology. This sustained effort has enabled us to discover a specialized, targeted tDCS treatment protocol and advance to the final frontier: delivering a home-therapy device that translates our science into a practical, real-world solution.
From scientific discovery to clinical delivery,
our research is engineered for real-world impact.
From scientific discovery to clinical delivery, our research is engineered for real-world impact.
Rodent: tDCS enhances Long-Term Potentiation and increases BDNF
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ASD showed
- hypoactivation in the Default Mode Network
- significantly inclines with age in ASD
- abnormal activation patterns across:
(1) the Dorsal Attention Network, (2) the Frontoparietal Network,
(3) other visual/sensorimotor networks
What is happening in ASD brains?
Prefrontal Connectivity & Cognitive Inflexibility
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Neuroimaging (fMRI, EEG, fNIRS) measure brain activity changes after tDCS
Discover
Normalisation of Brain Activation
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ASD adolescents vs. age/IQ-matched typically-developing peers
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Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) – rule-switching tests for cognitive flexibility
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fNIRS study – neuroimaging by oxygenation of hemoglobin
Prefrontal tDCS in Promoting Brain Plasticity
→ASD showed hypoactivation in the Default Mode Network (DMN);
DMN hypoactivation significantly inclines with age in ASD individuals;
ASD showed abnormal activation patterns across networks: (1) the Dorsal Attention Network,
(2) the Frontoparietal Network,
(3) other visual/sensorimotor networks
How tDCS works on the brain ?
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16 randomized controlled trials : patients with neuropsychiatric disorders
( i.e schizophrenia & substance use)
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Neuroimaging (fMRI, EEG, fNIRS) measure brain activity changes after tDCS
Building life satisfaction through attachment to mother and beliefs about the world: Social axioms as mediators in two cultural groups
Mak, M. C. K., Han, Y. M. Y., You, J., Jin, M. & Bond, M. H., 1 Mar 2011, In: Mental Health, Religion and Culture. 14, 3, p. 223-239
→ Anodal tDCS actively corrected abnormal brain activation patterns, resulting in faster reaction times, better task accuracy, and reduced symptom severity
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32 in-vivo studies across humans and rodents carrying out prefrontal tDCS
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Human arm: neuroimaging meta-analysis ;
(brain fertilizer)
ASD as a Whole-Brain Network Disorder
→ Humans: Anodal tDCS significantly activates the bilateral median cingulate cortex
Rodent arm: direct electrophysiology & molecular measurements
→ Behavior: ASD took significantly longer to learn and apply new rules,
Brain: ASD showed significantly lower prefrontal functional connectivity
(i.e lower brain-region synchrony)
→ Prefrontal connectivity= a validated, objective biomarker for ASD cognitive deficits
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Effortful control tests
(2) Inhibitory control (impulse suppression),
(3) Cognitive flexibility (rule-switching)
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fMRI study – neuroimaging by mapping blood flow
– (1) Attentional control (focusing),
(1) Attentional control (focusing),
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fMRI study – neuroimaging by mapping blood flow
→ Anodal tDCS actively corrected abnormal brain activation patterns &,reduced symptom severity