Forest-1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Functional Ultrasound Imaging (fUSi) of Brain States via a Craniectomy Window: A Single-Centre Exploratory Study
IRAS ID
345560
Contact name
Heidi Chandler
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
BARKING, HAVERING AND REDBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS TRUST
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 27 days
Research summary
The goal of this study is to use the Forest 1 (a novel wearable research device) that has miniaturized ultrasound technology to allow the delivery of fUSi from the surface of the scalp over a cranial window. The aim is to use fUSi to develop data-driven models of three “Brain States”: mood, attention and reinforcement learning.
Neurotechnology devices hold the promise to understand the brain, cure neurological and psychiatric conditions and enable high bandwidth communication with technology. Neurotechnologies have not yet delivered on this promise because current approaches are either incomplete or poorly matched to the distributed, heterogenous, and changing biology of the brain. Limitations of existing technologies are grounded in the physics that connect energy to the brain: Light scatters within a millimetre into the brain. Magnetic fields are difficult to miniaturise. Electrical techniques struggle to scale throughout the brain, limiting their impact. Ultrasound offers a solution.
Unlike current technologies such as deep brain stimulation, which can only target a single area of the brain, this new, non-invasive technology can interact with the whole brain with pinpoint accuracy.
The Forest 1 Device is a compact device, housing an ultrasound chip to enable functional neuroimaging placed on the surface of the skin of the head and can measure patients’ brain activity and stimulate different parts of it to measure and modulate neural activity across different mood states, enabling the development of a predictive model of affective brain states.
Up to 30 patients will take part in this exploratory, single site study.
There are no anticipated immediate clinical benefits to the participants in the study.
The three-and-a-half year project is being funded by the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) as part of its mission to support world-leading neurotechnology research, aiming to develop personalised treatments for a wide range of brain disorders.REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/NW/0344
Date of REC Opinion
17 Dec 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion