Prime Movers Lab Webinar Series: The Emerging Promise of Neuromodulation
Therapies for the Body and Brain without Drugs
Of all of the topics in neuroscience right now (other than psychedelic medicine!), I find myself most enthusiastic about neuromodulation. As a quick recap, neuromodulation is “the alteration of nerve activity through targeted delivery of a stimulus, such as electrical stimulation or chemical agents, to specific neurological sites in the body.” For our upcoming webinar, we are focusing on the non-pharmacological aspects — and honing in on the use of stimulation delivered invasively or non-invasively to either the central or peripheral nervous system.
I’m enthused about neuromodulation for (at least) two reasons. First, I’m excited because of the enormous therapeutic potential. The idea of using stimulation to augment the nervous system and treat pressing medical conditions is really thrilling. So many of the conditions targeted through neuromodulation are “drug resistant” or not even addressed through traditional pharmacological means. I’m also excited because of the varied modalities that we have at our disposal to stimulate the nervous system — electricity, sound, ultrasound, magnetics, invasive, non-invasive — this isn’t just one shot on goal, it’s many! It's a dream situation to have a “toolkit” of therapeutic options at the disposal of a clinician.
If you’re a reader of this blog — you know this isn’t my first time waxing poetic on the topic of neuromodulation. Earlier in the year, I shared some general thoughts on neuromodulation — and also shared a blog and webinar on the topic of sleep and how IT might be neuro-modulated. From my earlier writing, you might recall even the Egyptians and Romans were exploring neuromodulation as a therapy, including using electric fish (not kidding!) for the treatment of headaches. As usual, it seems the ancients knew a thing or two, and we’re in the process now of refining those older methods.
With this latest webinar, we have assembled some of the world’s experts on neuromodulation in the hopes that they will stimulate OUR brains with new ideas and new opportunities. As I mentioned, the therapeutic landscape is vast — including therapies for peripheral pain, headaches, tinnitus, insomnia, sleep apnea, stroke recovery, opioid withdrawl, PTSD, major depression, memory encoding, essential tremor, epilepsy, and more.
In this session, my colleague Ramez Naam and I have Dr. Arun Sridhar, Dr. Robert Hampson, and Dr. Hubert Lim as our guides in exploring the breadth of opportunities in neuromodulation. Both individually, and combined, they have decades of experience in academia and commercial endeavors — and each of them has been working tirelessly to take observations from the lab and turn them into viable therapies to enter clinical use.
If you join us, I promise you a stimulating conversation, and a chance to delve into the novel methods that are being used to deliver therapies for many intractable conditions. Don’t miss this opportunity on November 3rd at 3 pm ET to find out more about the promise of neuromodulation.
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