The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research has been awarded $3 million from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in collaboration with imec, to pioneer a novel approach to vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). This research aims to develop more precise, safe and effective methods for stimulating specific fibers inside the vagus nerve, potentially transforming treatments for a range of chronic diseases.

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Dr. Stavros Zanos will lead the study. (Credit: Feinstein Institutes).

Led by Stavros Zanos, MD, PhD, this research will explore a cutting-edge method for stimulating nerves with greater precision. The team will use a specialized device, recently developed by Dr. Zanos’s team and imec — a research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The team will use in-depth understanding of anatomical and functional organization of the vagus nerve, along with technology and interferential stimulation method introduced by imec.

“We hope to enhance the efficacy of VNS and minimize unintended consequences or side effects. This has the potential to revolutionize treatments for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and heart failure, which are all linked to inflammation,” said Dr. Zanos. “We are grateful for this grant, which represents a significant step forward in the field of neuromodulation and bioelectronic medicine.”

The research will focus on the vagus nerve, a major nerve that plays a crucial role in regulating bodily functions. The vagus nerve is the largest nerve in the body, stemming from the base of the brain, it branches into two, traveling down either side of the neck to various organs including the heart, lungs, stomach, digestive tract, spleen, and liver, among other places.

The joint research teams will explore how this therapy can be used to precisely target different vagal fibers, allowing for tailored stimulation of specific functions. For the past two years, Dr. Zanos’ team, supported by a NIH SPARC grant, has been mapping the microscopic anatomy of the human vagus nerve. Knowledge gained from the mapping study, along with the devices developed by imec, could provide physicians with unprecedented level of control over activation of the vagus nerve, potentially improving treatment outcomes and reducing the burden of side effects for patients receiving VNS.

“This important grant supports research into new ways to stimulate nerves in the body in order to treat serious medical conditions,” said Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes and Karches Family Distinguished Chair in Medical Research. “Dr. Zanos and his colleagues are leading these cutting-edge efforts to selectively activate fibers in the vagus nerve in order to minimize side effects and maximize efficacy."

The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research is the global scientific home of bioelectronic medicine, which combines molecular medicine, neuroscience, and biomedical engineering. At the Feinstein Institutes, medical researchers use modern technology to develop new device-based therapies to treat disease and injury.

Building on years of research in molecular disease mechanisms and the link between the nervous and immune systems, Feinstein Institutes’ researchers discovered neural targets that can be activated or inhibited with neuromodulation devices, like vagus nerve implants, to control the body's immune response and inflammation. If inflammation is successfully controlled, diseases – such as arthritis, pulmonary hypertension, heart failure, inflammatory bowel diseases, diabetes, cancer and autoimmune diseases – can be treated more effectively.

Beyond inflammation, using novel brain-computer interfaces, Feinstein Institutes' researchers developed techniques to bypass injuries of the nervous system so that people living with paralysis can regain sensation and use their limbs. By producing bioelectronic medicine knowledge, disease and injury could one day be treated with our own nerves without costly and potentially harmful pharmaceuticals.

Most recently, Dr. Zanos published in Circulation Research, an American Heart Association journal, scientific evidence of bioelectronic medicine and neuromodulation as an effective way to treat pulmonary hypertension, a cardiovascular disease with an inflammatory component, through a noninvasive, ultrasound-based therapy.

About the Feinstein Institutes

The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research is the home of the research institutes of Northwell Health, the largest health care provider and private employer in New York State. Encompassing 50+ research labs, 3,000 clinical research studies and 5,000 researchers and staff, the Feinstein Institutes raises the standard of medical innovation through its six institutes of behavioral science, bioelectronic medicine, cancer, health system science, molecular medicine, and translational research. We are the global scientific leader in bioelectronic medicine – an innovative field of science that has the potential to revolutionize medicine. The Feinstein Institutes publishes two open-access, international peer-reviewed journals Molecular Medicine and Bioelectronic Medicine. Through the Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine, we offer an accelerated PhD program. For more information about how we produce knowledge to cure disease, visit http://feinstein.northwell.edu and follow us on LinkedIn.

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