Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery

We explore existing and innovative methods of neuromodulation (e.g. Deep Brain Stimulation, Optogenetics stimulation, epidural Focused Ultrasound Stimulation) in rodent models of Depression. Our pre-clinical work has a special interest in the medial forebrain bundle (mfb), a complex structure that carries many ascending and descending projections between the midbrain and the forebrain, and – we believe – that it is a key structure in regulating the activity of diverse networks implicated in the neurocircuitry of Depression. We are also interested in the role of the mfb because it is the rodent equivalent of the clinical target stimulated with DBS by Prof VA Coenen and colleagues in clinical trials in Treatment Resistant Depressive patients.