Brain Ultrasound
The SonoMod module attaches to a mouse's head, focusing ultrasound on a brain area while simultaneously recording its response with a miniature camera. On August 18, authors published a preprint on SonoMod, releasing files for assembly, optics, analysis software, and data. Focused ultrasound concentrates sound wave energy in a small brain point.
The device allows for simultaneous stimulation and recording, overcoming previous setup limitations that required head fixation or separate sessions for stimulation and recording. According to the authors, "in neuroscience, tools for intervening in neural circuits and reading their response have traditionally relied on incompatible physics." In SonoMod, light and sound pass through a single module, with a transparent niobate disk converting an electrical signal into ultrasound.
The UCLA Miniscope v4, an open miniature microscope for experiments with freely moving animals, is used with the SonoMod module. Authors tested the device in a series of experiments, first verifying that the camera can see the brain through the module, and then directing ultrasound to the secondary motor cortex (M2). The results were published in a preprint repository and are awaiting review in a neuroscience journal.
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PubMed Central (PMC)
General‐Purpose Ultrasound Neuromodulation System for Chronic, Closed‐Loop Preclinical Studies in Freely Behaving Rodents
Transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (tFUS) is an effective noninvasive treatment modality for brain disorders with high clinical potential. However, the therapeutic effects of ultrasound neuromodulation are not widely explored due to ...
August 24, 2026 9
