# The Development and Human Translation of Temporal Interference Brain Stimulation

> **NIH NIH R01** · BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER · 2021 · $677,718

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has had great impact, helping patients with disorders such as Parkinson's
disease and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and with great potential for other disorders such as
depression and Alzheimer's disease. DBS, being a surgical procedure, bears the potential for complications
that limit its deployment and adoption. Transient non-invasive brain stimulation methods, such as transcranial
magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial current stimulation (tCS), also show therapeutic potential and
have been used in many human clinical and neuroscientific investigations, but they fail to achieve focality at
depth. In a paper we recently published in Cell, we reported the initial stages of development of a non-invasive,
steerable, 3D focal brain stimulation method that has the potential in the future to transform the risk-benefit
ratio for DBS by providing an alternative without the need for surgery, as well as to improve the precision of
other non-invasive methods such as TMS or tCS. We showed that by delivering two electric fields at slightly
different carrier frequencies, which are themselves too high to recruit effective neural firing but for which the
offset frequency is low enough to drive neural activity, we can create an electric field envelope at the offset
frequency. We found that this low-frequency modulated electric field can cause neurons to be electrically
activated at a deep focus, without driving neighboring, or overlying, brain regions. We now propose to refine
this technology for multiple clinically relevant targets and collaboratively deploy them into several relevant
settings, including the demonstration of early human translation assessing feasibility, safety, steerability, and
depth selectivity. Specifically, we will (Aim 1) optimize TI stimulation for three targets of clinical interest, basal
forebrain, central thalamus, and visual cortex, for investigation in humans and mice; (Aim 2) translate TI
stimulation to human and demonstrate safety, steerable precision, and depth selectivity; (Aim 3) develop TI
implementations of anesthesia, in rodent models. In this way we will deliver to the clinical community a
technology ready for clinical trials in a diversity of clinical contexts.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10181078
- **Project number:** 5R01MH117063-04
- **Recipient organization:** BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** DANIEL Z. PRESS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $677,718
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-23 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10181078

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10181078, The Development and Human Translation of Temporal Interference Brain Stimulation (5R01MH117063-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10181078. Licensed CC0.

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