Neurotech for Mental Health

Nearly 1 billion people globally live with a mental health disorder that can severely affect quality of life and shorten lifespan by up to 20 years. Neurotechnology, devices that sense and/or stimulate brain function, are often promoted as panacea to study, monitor, and treat mental health conditions. However, today’s technologies have not yet delivered on this promise. In this seminar, we’ll take a brief trip through the history of neurotechnology and its application in mental health. We’ll find a rich history of attempts and success, and ideally elucidate trends and shortcomings. As outdated ideas of chemical imbalances are replaced with data on the specific circuits and systems associated with mental health, paths for the future of neurotechnology become clear. Although there are many areas of active development in neurotech physics, hardware, and machine learning, we’ll take a deep dive on one: ultrasonic brain-machine interfaces. Forest Neurotech is developing an ultrasound-based interface to sense and stimulate function throughout much of the human brain, bringing hope to the study and treatment of mental health disorders and beyond. To maximize impact and accelerate timelines, Forest was created in 2023 as a focused research organization, a novel form of nonprofit startup for science. These orgs fill a key structural gap in the R&D system, enabling advances in areas that require coordinated engineering and benefit society broadly. I would like to see the barriers of entry to our field significantly lowered to empower researchers and clinicians to contribute new and impactful methods for diagnostics, monitoring, and ultimately better therapies for people living with brain-related disorders.