Easy and accessible closed-loop brain-state-dependent stimulation: a complete setup walkthrough

by Sara Pizzamiglio Ph.D.
Key Account Manager & Scientific Consultant (Brain Products)

Emblem EEG-Brain Stimulation (TMS)Closed-loop brain-state-dependent stimulation has gained lots of interest in neuroscience research in the past few years thanks to its potential to significantly change and positively impact the way therapeutic interventions for different physical and psychiatric conditions are delivered (Wischnewski and colleagues 2024, Zrenner and Ziemann 2024). An increasing number of research groups worldwide are now embarking in this journey, which poses the question of how a fast, reliable and accurate setup can be built whilst still being accessible to everyone.

In our dedicated article in the Support & Resources section of our website we walk you through all the steps required to set up your closed-loop brain-state-dependent application.

Go to full support article

Challenges and requirements

Closed-loop brain-state-dependent applications aim to synchronize the timing of an intervention to an ongoing individual natural neural oscillation of interest and eventually adjust the intervention parameters across multiple sessions to maximize its neuroplastic effects (Bergmann, 2018). To achieve this, the setup must be able to:

  • Access and analyze EEG data in real-time with millisecond precision, minimal jitter, and strong robustness against noise and interferences.

  • Detect with high accuracy the moment(s) of highest excitability in the brain area and frequency band of interest, and trigger an external intervention (e.g., a brain stimulation) at the right time.

  • Save the very same EEG data for offline analysis to evaluate session-specific effects and eventually adjust the subsequent intervention parameters (if needed).

Logo sync2brainThis all sounds technically and analytically challenging but thanks to the partnership with sync2brain we now offer a complete end-to-end solution that will reduce the complexity of setup preparation and give you the opportunity to focus more on your scientific questions.

The main characters of this story are:

  • 1

    Our actiCHamp (Plus) family of amplifiers together with the TurboLink, to record high quality EEG data and access them in super-fast (<1.5 ms latency) and reliable fashion (via UDP packets)

  • 2

    The bossdevice RESEARCH by sync2brain, to monitor the neural oscillations of a target brain area in real-time, find the desired brain state, and eventually trigger the external intervention (e.g., TMS) accordingly.

  • 3

    The bossapp RESEARCH, an interactive software developed by sync2brain to support researchers by lowering the barrier of designing complex protocols, making the interaction with the bossdevice RESEARCH more user friendly and facilitating EEG data visualization and postprocessing.

Easy and Accessible Closed-Loop Brain-State-Dependent Stimulation: a complete setup walkthrough

Want to know more?

In our Support & Resources article you will find everything you need to know to successfully run your closed-loop brain-state-dependent experiment with our solutions.

Let us know how useful the article is for you and do share any feedback with us that will allow to improve the way we assist you with your research work.

If you are interested in closed-loop brain-state-dependent research, in the bossapp RESEARCH specifically or if you have any other questions, do not hesitate to contact your local distributor or get in touch with us.

Most recent articles

References

Wischnewski, M., Shirinpour, S., Alekseichuk, I., Lapid, M.I., Nahas, Z., Lim, K.O., Croarkin, P.E. and Opitz, A., 2024.
Real-time TMS-EEG for brain state-controlled research and precision treatment: a narrative review and guide.
Journal of neural engineering.

Zrenner, C. and Ziemann, U., 2024.
Closed-loop brain stimulation.
Biological Psychiatry, 95(6), pp.545-552.