Lectures and seminars StratNeuro Seminar with Li-Huei Tsai
Welcome to the StratNeuro Seminar "Driving the brain at 40Hz: A decade of gamma sensory stimulation" with Li-Huei Tsai from MIT. The seminar will take place on Thursday, June 18th, at 11.00 AM in Ragnar Granit (Biomedicum, Campus Solna).
"Driving the brain at 40Hz: A decade of gamma sensory stimulation"
Li-Huei Tsai
Picower Professor of Neuroscience, The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
Abstract
Rhythmic neural activity in the gamma range (30–80 Hz) plays a crucial role in cognitive function and is disrupted in several neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We developed a method termed Gamma ENtrainment Using Sensory stimuli (GENUS), which uses patterned light and sound stimulation at 40 Hz to enhance gamma power across multiple brain regions. We found that daily application significantly mitigates neuronal and synaptic degeneration, AD related pathology and improves cognitive function. We and others demonstrate GENUS facilitates cerebrospinal fluid influx and glymphatic clearance mediated through a hierarchical neuromodulatory system to promote amyloid clearance. GENUS is also shown to increase adult neurogenesis and elevate cortical plasticity in models of neurodevelopmental disorders. In the lecture, I will discuss how GENUS may represent a conceptual shift in how brain disorders may be approached.
About the speaker
Professor Li-Huei Tsai pioneered the use of non-invasive sensory stimulation to treat Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders. Tsai is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a Member of the National Academy of Medicine, an Academician of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a recipient of the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 Hans Wigzell Research Foundation Science Prize for her research on Alzheimer’s disease, and the 2025 Distinguished Lecturer for Parkinson’s Disease Research, Helis Medical Research Foundations. In 2022, she was named a Visiting Professor of the Vallee Foundation.