VoltMed, a new spin-out of Virginia Tech Wake Forest University, has developed a technology to open the blood brain barrier. The research was conducted at the university’s School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences.
Dubbed Vascular Enabled Integrated Nanosecond (Vein) pulse, the procedure allows the disruption of the blood brain barrier through electric pulses only nanoseconds long. Surrounding tissue remains unaffected, and the required needle electrodes are only minimally invasive.
The barrier is a network made up of tiny junctions, of which the purpose is to protect the brain from dangerous, foreign substances. While this is a crucial part of the body’s protection against dangerous elements, it also prevents drugs from entering the brain. The Vein pulse guarantees the protective nature of the blood brain barrier remains intact, while allowing drugs to enter the brain.
The Vein pulse can be used without the need of general anaesthesia. VoltMed is hoping to use the technology to treat Parkinson’s disease or brain cancer, and is currently looking at various clinical applications to fully commercialise the technology.
Rafael Davalos, director at the Bioelectromechanical Systems Laboratory at Virginia Tech, said: “Vein pulses could be applied at the same time as biopsy or through the same track as the biopsy probe in order to mitigate damage to the healthy tissue by limiting the number of needle insertions.”
