Kim Bellard
I've been looking for advances in healthcare that look more like 22 years oldYingshi Century Medicine is better than the medicine we still experience in 2025. It has made too much progress in the worlds of AI, genetic engineering, nanorobots, etc. I often think of scenes Star Trek IV Dr. McCaw discovered himself at the age of 20Th Century Hospital, shocking:
So, I'm happy to cover some of the developments that seem to be in the future.
Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (also known as “ultrasound helmet): You may have never heard of brain stimulation unless you know someone who has Parkinson's disease, dystonia, basic tremors, or epilepsy. It turns out that electrical impulses to certain parts of the brain can help reduce involuntary movements that these conditions can cause.
The disadvantage is that deep brain stimulation is transmitted by electrodes implanted deep in the brain. Although this sounds less daunting, people are still drilling holes and pushing electrodes into their brains. You can imagine Dr. McCloy's reaction.
Inject transcranial ultrasound stimulation. A new paper nature Researchers at University College London (UCL) and Oxford University described using 256 element helmets to accurately target ultrasound to achieve the same results.
Our findings reveal the potential of the system to non-invasively regulate deep brain circuits with unprecedented accuracy and specificity, providing new avenues for the study of brain function and the development of targeted therapies for neurological and mental illnesses, with the potential for change in research and clinical applications.
Professor Bradley Treeby, senior author of UCL Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Research, said:
Clinically, this new technology could change the treatment of neurological and mental illnesses such as Parkinson's disease, depression and essential tremors, with unprecedented accuracy when targeting specific brain circuits that play a key role in these diseases.
The ability to precisely regulate deep brain structure without surgery represents a paradigm transfer in neuroscience, providing a safe, reversible and reproducible approach to understanding brain function and developing targeted therapies.
Furthermore, Professor Treeby asserted: “For the first time, scientists can non-invasively study causality in deep brain circuits that were previously only accessible through surgery.” Similarly, Professor Charlotte Stagg, senior author at Oxford University, said: “The waves reach the goal with extraordinary precision. It’s only extraordinary, and no one has done it before.”
Dr. Ioana Grigoras, first author of the study at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Oxford University, agreed: “This novel brain stimulation device represents a breakthrough in our ability to accurately target previously untouched deep brain structures.
The study is primarily a proof of concept, but the team is already on the way to test the system in the brain region related to Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, stroke recovery, pain, depression and other conditions. They hope to have the first clinical application within a few years.
The current helmet is used in conjunction with fMRI, but the team hopes to eventually be able to use AI to avoid fMRI. They founded Neuroharmonics to develop a portable wearable version of the system, designed to allow patients to use it at home. Its vision is to “build a gold standard for potentially becoming non-invasive neuromodulation, potentially changing the lives of millions affected by brain diseases while opening up new frontiers in brain computing.”
Sounds about 22ND Century Medicine.
Electromechanical Remodeling (EMR): When Lasik surgery was performed in the late 1980s, it certainly looked like 21Yingshi drug. laser! Surgery without scalpels has higher accuracy! Indeed, this is a big step forward. But we are now in 2025 and we must admit that Lasik is not without risks. Also, as Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at the Western Academy, notes: “Lasik is just a peculiar way to do traditional surgery. It’s still the tissue of engraving – it’s just engraving with laser.”
Professor Hill believes there is a better way. He and his colleague Brian Wong, a surgeon engineer at the University of California, Irvine, believe a process known as electromechanical remodeling (EMR) provides a better choice. Basically, it uses electrical impulses to reshape the cornea. No surgery is required.
The researchers applied a small amount of electric potential to the lens. After about a minute, without going into all the chemical reactions involved, the curvature of the cornea fits the shape of the lens – they noted that Lasik takes about the same time, but with fewer steps, fewer cheaper equipment, and no incisions. In other experiments, the team showed that their technology might be able to reverse some chemically induced multicloud to the cornea—a disease that can only be treated with a complete corneal transplant.
“The overall effect was discovered by chance,” explained Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine. “I have always considered living tissue as a plastic material and discovered the entire chemical modification process.”
Professor Hill and Wong co-authored a proof-of-concept paper in 2023. “This paper is really about asking, is it even possible? Can we change the shape of the cornea without serious harm?” Hill told IEEE spectrum. “Now, after two years of work, we have systematically completed the parameters – we can say yes, it’s possible and we can do it safely.”
The duo tested EMR on the rabbit's eyeball, instead of the live rabbit, which would be the next step. “No one gets this next year with an optometrist,” Professor Hill warned. “It's hard work now – re-engineering the parameters, confirming long-term viability, and ensuring that the treated eyes don't recover.”
Professor Hill still believes: “There is a long way from what we do and the clinic. But if we get there, the technology is widely applicable, cheap, and even reversible.”
I wish I would never need Lasik surgery, let alone other types of ophthalmic surgery, but if I do, I definitely wish I didn't have to wait until 22ND Century to get something like EMR.
————
These two cool stuff. And, in the current environment of attacks on science, I can’t help but include what other professors, Professor Hill, pointed out:
You don't always know where basic research will be done. We are studying electroanalytical chemistry, not ophthalmic surgery. But those basic insights are what makes this possible. If you cut off this basic research, you won’t get this kind of unexpected opportunity for change.
Amen about this. That's how we enter the future.
Kim is the former emarketing Exec of the main blues program, late editor and regret tinture.ionow regular THCB contributor
