Ultrasound neuromodulation

Competences: 
  • Ultrasound field simulations for treatment planning and transducer design optimization
  • Neuronal simulations to improve our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of ultrasound-neuron coupling  

Research projects: 
  • FWO senior research project IMMUNE (2021-2024): Inclusive Multi-compartment Model for Ultrasound-evoked Neuronal Excitability.
  • FWO-SNSF WEAVE project (2023-2026): Experimentally validated computational pipeline of ultrasound propagation and neuron-coupling for non-invasive peripheral nervous system stimulation.
  • ERC Starting Grant URENIMOD (2025-2029): Minimally invasive and closed-loop ultrasound neuromodulation and recording for the treatment of focal epilepsy.
Collaborations: 
  • Translational Neural Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL): prof. Silvestro Micera
  • IT'IS foundation (prof. Niels Kuster, prof. Esra Neufeld)
  • imec-nl (Geert Langereis) and imec-Leuven (Xavier Rottenberg, Peter Peumans)
Key Publications: 

Journal publications 

  1. T. Tarnaud,W. Joseph, L. Martens, E. Tanghe, “Computational Modeling of Ultrasonic Subthalamic Nucleus Stimulation", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 66(4), 2018 (Impact Factor: 4.288, Q1, Rank: 7/407).
  2. T. Tarnaud,W. Joseph, R. Schoeters, L. Martens, E. Tanghe, “Membrane charge oscillations during ultrasonic neuromodulation by intramembrane cavitation", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 68(9), 2021 (Impact Factor: 4.491, Q1, Rank: 11/81).
  3. T. Tarnaud,W. Joseph, R. Schoeters, L. Martens, E. Tanghe, “SECONIC: Towards multi-compartmental models for ultrasonic brain stimulation by intramembrane cavitation", Journal of Neural Engineering, 17(5), 2020 (Impact Factor: 4.810, Q1, Rank: 16/87).
  4. T. Tarnaud,W. Joseph, R. Schoeters, L. Martens, E. Tanghe, “Improved alpha-beta power reduction via combined electrical and ultrasonic stimulation in a parkinsonian cortex-basal ganglia-thalamus computational model", Journal of Neural Engineering, 18(6), 2021 (Impact Factor: 4.810, Q1, Rank: 16/87).
  5. R. Schoeters, T. Tarnaud, L. Martens, E. Tanghe. “A Simulation Study on High Spatio-Temporal Resolution Acousto-Electrophysiological Neuroimaging”. Journal of Neural Engineering, 2023 (Impact Factor: 4.0, Q2, Rank: 42/96).

Conference presentations

  1. T. Tarnaud, W. Joseph, L. Martens, T. Van Renterghem, E. Tanghe, “Interaction of electrical and ultrasonic neuromodulation: a computational study", 3rd International Brain Stimulation Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 24-27 February, 2019.
  2. T. Tarnaud, W. Joseph, L. Martens, T. Van Renterghem, E. Tanghe, “Ultrasonic neuromodulation in multi-compartmental neuron models", 28th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting. CNS2019, Barcelona, Spain, July 13-17, 2019.
  3. T. Tarnaud,W. Joseph, R. Schoeters, L. Martens, T. Van Renterghem, E. Tanghe, “Robustness of ultrasonic modulation of the subthalamic nucleus to GABAergic perturbation”, 29th annual computational neuroscience meeting cns*2020 (online), Melbourne, Australia, July 18-22, 2020.
  4. T. Tarnaud, T. Plovie, E. Vicari, R. Schoeters, E. Neufeld, N. Kuster,W. Joseph, L. Martens, S. Micera, E. Tanghe, “Towards a comprehensive model of the underlying mechanisms of ultrasound neuromodulation”. Focused ultrasound neuromodulation conference, Stanford, California, July, 12–14, 2023.
  5. T. Plovie, T. Tarnaud, E. Vicari, J. Gomez-Tames, E. Neufeld, S. Micera, E. Tanghe, “Intersubject Variability and Skull Reflections in Acoustic Radiation Force Simulations for tFUS”. Focused ultrasound neuromodulation conference, Stanford, California, July, 12–14, 2023.
  6. E. Neufeld, T. Tarnaud, T. Plovie, E. Vicari, P. B. Garcia, R. Schoeters, N. Kuster,W. Joseph, L. Martens, S. Micera, E. Tanghe, “Computational Pipeline for Modeling Ultrasound Propagation and Electrophysiological Impacts for Noninvasive Peripheral Nervous System Stimulation”, North American Neuromodulation Society Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, January, 18–21, 2024.
  7. T. Plovie, R. Schoeters, T. Tarnaud,W. Joseph, E. Tanghe, “Contribution of Ion Channel Nonlinearities to the Mechanism of Temporal Interference Stimulation”, Joint Meeting of The Bioelectromagnetics Society and the European BioElectromagnetics Association, BioEM2024, Crete, Greece, 16-21 June 2024.
  8. J. G. Rodríguez, T. Tarnaud,W. Joseph, E. Tanghe, “Expanding the intramembrane cavitation model to morphologically realistic cortical cell models”, Focused ultrasound neuromodulation conference, Toronto, Canada, July, 11–13, 2024.
  9. T. Tarnaud, T. Plovie, E. Vicari, J. G. Rodríguez, R. Schoeters, P. B. Garcia, L. Moya-Sans, E. Neufeld, N. Kuster,W. Joseph, L. Martens, S. Micera, E. Tanghe, “Experimentally-validated computational pipeline for ultrasonic peripheral nerve stimulation”, Focused ultrasound neuromodulation conference, Toronto, Canada, July, 11–13, 2024.
  10. E. Vicari, T. Lemaire, T. Tarnaud, V. Paggi, T. Plovie, O. Akouissi, O. Rizzo, E. Tanghe, E. Neufeld, S. Lacour, S. Micera, “Axonal excitability to ultrasound stimulation”, Focused ultrasound neuromodulation conference, Toronto, Canada, July, 11–13, 2024.
  11. J. G. Rodríguez, T. Tarnaud,W. Joseph, E. Tanghe, “Integrating morphologically realistic cortical cells into the intramembrane cavitation mechanism”, Bernstein conference, Frankfurt, Sept 29 - Oct 2, 2024.
  12. E. Vicari, T. Lemaire, T. Tarnaud, T. Plovie, O. Akouissi, O. Rizzo, E. Tanghe, E. Neufeld, S. Lacour, S. Micera, “Functional axonal neuromodulation using focused ultrasound”, Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL, United States, October 5–9, 2024.
  13. J. Gázquez,W. Joseph, E. Tanghe, T. Tarnaud, "Improving the treatment of neurological disorders by understanding the mechanisms of ultrasound neuromodulation", FEA Research Symposium, November 27, Ghent, Belgium.
  14. T. Plovie, E. Tanghe, T. Tarnaud, "On the Physical Mechanisms of Ultrasound Neuromodulation", FEA Research Symposium,
    November 27, Ghent, Belgium.