‘Developing and testing potential new treatment options using non-invasive brain stimulation for brain disorders’: Exciting research being carried out at the University of Turku, Finland

Back in April 2019, Brainbox had the pleasure of visiting the University of Turku, Finland, to complete the installation of a combined transcranial magnetic stimulation and neuronavigation system in conjunction with Cephalon.

Located in southwestern Finland, the University of Turku was founded in 1920 and the prestigious institution has since grown to become the second largest in the country. Following the installation, we recently had the chance to catch up with Dr Juho Joutsa at the University of Turku to find out more about the amazing research that these systems are helping to make possible.

The TMS systems, a DuoMAG XT and MP-Dual, are being used primarily in clinical research at the Turku PET Centre — a unique environment for brain stimulation and neuroimaging research — but are also being made available for any researchers at the Turku Brain and Mind Centre where they will be used in interdisciplinary neuroscience studies, ranging from neurology to psychiatry, clinical neurophysiology, nuclear medicine, and psychology.

‘Our work,’ Juho tells us, ‘focuses on investigating the neurobiological mechanisms of brain disorders, using state-of-the-art neuroimaging and brain stimulation techniques’. Using the DuoMAG XT rTMS system, researchers at Turku are ‘investigating the mechanisms of action of repetitive TMS using positron emission tomography, and using multimodal neuroimaging to identify the neural origin of neurological and psychiatric symptoms’. 

These clinical studies at the University of Turku maintain a strong focus on neurological movement disorders — particularly, Juho notes, ‘such as dystonia and Parkinson’s disease’. As a result of this research, Juho hopes that they will be able to gain a greater understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms of brain stimulation itself, and how combining neuromodulation, neuroimaging, and neuronavigation techniques to guide stimulation can pave the way for brand new treatments of these neurological disorders.

‘We hope to continue our research along these lines,’ he says, ‘developing and testing potential new treatment options using non-invasive brain stimulation for brain disorders’.

You can find out more information about Turku Brain Lab and the ongoing projects being carried out at the university here.

At Brainbox, we are experts in integrating solutions for neuroscience. If you’re looking to carry out multimodal non-invasive brain stimulation studies, we will work with you every step of the way to help create the perfect system for your research needs. If you’re interested in discussing your ideas and equipment requirements with us, please contact info@brainbox-neuro.com or request a quotation for any of our products.