The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has enlisted seven teams of researchers, who will work the development of small electronic systems that could be used to treat a host of medical maladies. The DARPA program, called ElectRX (Electrical Prescriptions), would entail utilization of closed-loop devices that would target specific maladies. In time, the agency and teams intend to test their projects on human patients. The teams include:
• Circuit Therapeutics, Menlo Park, Calif., to use light (optogenics) to treat pain.
• Columbia University, New York, to use non-invasive ultrasound to activate or inhibit nerves.
• Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Australia, to determine the correlation between humans and animals and the use of cochlear implants to treat hearing loss.
• The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, to study possibilities of treating irritable bowel syndrome with neuromodulation.
• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., to use magnetic nanoparticles to activate neurons.
• Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., to use neuromodulation to treat inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.
• The University of Texas, Dallas, to use a technique called neural plasticity to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
