Research

The neuromodlab is primarily focused on exploring the use of ultrasound for non-invasive human neuromodulation. We employ several techniques including electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), behavioural testing, empirical acoustic testing and computer modelling.  
Publications
  1. Legon W. Bansal P. Tyshynsky R. Ai L. Mueller JK. Transcranial focused ultrasound neuromodulation of the human primary motor cortex. (2018). Sci Rep 8, 10007(2018). doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28320-1  Link to paper here.
  2. Legon W. Bansal P. Ai L. Mueller J.K. Meekins G. Gillick B. Safety of transcranial focused ultrasound for human neuromodulation. Bioarxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/314856 Link to paper here.
  3. Ai L. Bansal P. Mueller JK. Legon W. Effects of transcranial focused ultrasound on human primary motor cortex using 7T fMRI. Bioarxiv. doi: https://doi.or/10.1101/277608 Link to paper here.
  4. Legon W. Bansal P. Tyshynsky R. Ai L. Mueller JK. Transcranial focused ultrasound neuromodulation of the human primary motor cortex. (2018). Bioarxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/234666 Link to paper here.
  5. Legon W. Ai L. Bansal P. Mueller J.K. (2018). Neuromodulation with single-element transcranial focused ultrasound in human thalamus. Hum Brain Mapp. 2018; 00:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23981. Link to paper here.
  6. Guo H. Hamilton M. Offutt S. Gloeckner C. Li T. Kim Y. Legon W. Alford J.K. Lim H.H. (2018). Ultrasound produces extensive brain activation via a cochlear pathway. Bioarxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/233189. Link to paper here.
  7. Mueller J.K. Ai L. Bansal P. Legon W. (2017). Numerical evaluation of the skull for human neuromodulation with transcranial focused ultrasound. J. Neural Eng. 14 066012.
  8. Mueller J.K. Ai L. Bansal P. Legon W. (2016). Computational exploration of wave propagation and heating from transcranial focused ultrasound for neuromodulation. J. Neural Eng. 13 056002.
  9. Ai L. Mueller J. Grant A. Eryaman A. Legon W. (2016). Transcranial Focused Ultrasound for BOLD fMRI Signal Modulation in Humans. EMBC 2016; 1758-1761. doi: 10.1109/embc.2016.7591057.
  10. Legon W. Punzell S. Dowlati E. Adams SE. Stiles AB. Moran RJ. (2015). Altered prefrontal excitation/inhibition balance and prefrontal output: Markers of aging in human memory networks. Cer. Cortex. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhv200.
  11. Neren D. Johnson MD. Legon W. Bachour SP. Ling G. Divani AA. (2015). Vagus nerve stimulation and other neuromodulation methods for treatment of traumatic brain injury. Neurocrit Care. doi: 10.1007/s12028-015-0203-0
  12. Mueller J. Legon W. Tyler W.J. (2015).  Analysis of transcranial focused ultrasound beam profile sensitivity for neuromodulation of the human brain. arXiv: 1503.02019.
  13. Opitz A. Legon W. Mueller J. Barbour A. Paulus W. Tyler W.J. (2015).  Is sham cTBS real cTBS? The effect on EEG dynamics. Front.Hum.Neurosci. 08 Jan 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.01043
  14. Mueller J. Legon W. Opitz A. Sato T.F. Tyler W.J. (2014).  Transcranial focused ultrasound modulates intrinsic and evoked EEG dynamics. Brain Stimul. 7,(6):900-8. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2014.08.008
  15. Legon W. Sato T.F.  Opitz A.  Mueller J.  Barbour A. Williams A.  Tyler W.J.  (2014). Transcranial focused ultrasound modulates the activity of primary somatosensory cortex in humans. Nature Neuroscience. 17, 322-329. doi:10.1038/nn.3620
  16. Legon W. Dionne J.K. and Staines W.R. (2013). Continuous theta burst stimulation of the supplementary motor area: effect upon perception and somatosensory & motor evoked potentials. Brain Stimul, Nov; 6 (6): 877-83. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2013.04.007
  17. Opitz A. Legon W.  Rowlands  A. Paulus W. Bickel W. and Tyler W.J. (2013). Physiological observations validate finite element models for estimating subject-specific electric field distributions induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation of the human motor cortex. NeuroImage, Nov 1; 81: 253-64. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.067
  18. Dionne J.K. Legon W. & Staines W.R. (2013). Cross-modal influences on early somatosensory processing: interaction of vision, touch and task-relevance. Exp Brain Res, May; 226(4): 503-12.
  19. Legon W.  Rowlands  A.  Opitz  A.  Sato T.  Tyler W.J. (2012). Pulsed ultrasound differentially stimulates somatosensory circuits in humans as indicated by EEG and fMRI. PLoS One.  2012;7(12): e51177.  doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051177
Neuromodlab at the University of Virginia
​Department of Neurosurgery
Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Biomedical Science Graduate Program
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