Research projects

The ability to focally modulate brain activity through the scalp using noninvasive brain stimulation techniques offers a powerful tool for studying human brain function and an attractive opportunity to develop non-drug treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders. Transcranial static magnetic field stimulation is a simple and low-cost non-invasive stimulation technique compared to others. It is based on the transcranial application of a relatively strong static magnetic field –obtained with neodymium magnets– that modifies the neuronal activity of the cerebral cortex over the region where it is applied. There are several mechanisms proposed in the literature to explain the effects of tSMS. The mechanism recently published by us in Frontiers is the only one known to date that can be considered a realistic candidate to explain the phenomenon. Our central hypothesis is that the mechanism that can explain the effects that tSMS produces in the nervous system may be due to the force/pressure that this stimulation creates on the nervous structures that are under this magnetic field. The main objective of this project is to describe the mechanism that causes static magnetic fields to modify neural activity. Understanding the effects of tSMS from a mechanisms point of view would make it possible to optimize its use and possibly generate more efficient stimulation protocols, thus helping to prescribe this stimulation as a treatment for neurodegenerative and aging diseases. Patients could benefit from the advantages of this non-invasive stimulation technique compared to others that are already used, such as TMS and tdcs, as this new cheap technique is easy to apply, and can be performed at the patient's home.