Electrical and Ultrasonic Modulation of Lateral Cerebellar Nucleus

Project Narrative The cerebellum is a primary center of motor coordination and its role in cognition is increasingly recognized, raising the possibility that cerebellar dysfunction contributes widely to symptoms of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Concurrent with the recognition of the cerebellum's expanded role in brain function, stimulation of the cerebellum has seen a surge of clinical studies in recent years reporting that it improves motor learning, cognitive and emotional processes. However, to date, very few studies have addressed the cellular and circuit level mechanisms by which the cerebellar activity can be modulated using non-invasive methods of stimulation such as transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) and focused ultrasound (FUS) stimulation; this is the overarching goal of this proposal.