Brain Stimulation

Transcranial Brain Stimulation (TBS) can influence the ongoing electrical activity of the human brain.

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A range of complementary TBS techniques can be used to interact with brain activity without discomfort: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) produces a rapidly changing electromagnetic field in a stimulation coil that is placed on the head. This electromagnetic field induces an electrical filed in the part of the brain that is close to the coil that can induce action potentials in cortical neurons. Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (TES) directly applies weak electric fields with the help of electrodes that are attached on the skin. TES induces a weak current in the brain that modulates ongoing brain activity, but TES does not elicit action potentials.

Transcranial Brain Stimulation (TBS) is a versatile neuroscientific and therapeutic tool since it can be used to both quantify and influence brain activity.

The Transcranial Brain Stimulation group is a method group led by Postdoc Lasse Christiansen. Its aim is to facilitate, support and advance all forms of transcranial brain stimulation at DRCMR. Activities of the group range from improving state-of-the-art protocols for different TBS techniques to educating DRCMR researchers and students and by ensuring the highest technical and safety standards in all laboratories. The group meets every second Monday at 10am and welcomes all researchers at DRCMR who wish to use TBS as a scientific tool.

Teaching activities

Each year DRCMR hosts the ‘Copenhagen Brain Stimulation (CoBS) Week’ comprising the CoBS School and CoBS workshop. For information about the latest CoBS Week held in November 2021, click here.

Research activities

The group actively supports all TBS related research projects. Three areas form the present focus of interest:

Mapping and shaping functional representations in human brain networks with TBS
Improving the efficacy and reproducibility of current TBS protocols
Identifying both central and peripheral, unintended effects of TBS.

Selected Publications

Marie Louise Liu, Anke Ninija Karabanova, Marjolein Piek, Esben Thade Petersen, Axel Thielscher, Hartwig Roman Siebner. Short periods of bipolar anodal TDCS induce no instantaneous dose-dependent 2 increase in cerebral blood flow in the targeted human motor cortex. BioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.10.475608; this version posted January 11, 2022.

Janine Kesselheim, Mitsuaki Takemi, Lasse Christiansen, Anke Ninija Karabanov, Hartwig Roman Siebner. Multi-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation of human motor cortex produces short latency corticomotor facilitation via two distinct mechanisms. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.19.481138; this version posted February 22, 2022.

Bonnesen, M. T., Fuglsang, S. A., Siebner, H. R., & Christiansen, L. (2022). Corticospinal excitability is influenced by the recent history of electrical digital stimulation: Implications for the relative magnitude of short-latency afferent inhibition. bioRxiv

Tomasevic, L., Siebner, H. R., Thielscher, A., Manganelli, F., Pontillo, G., & Dubbioso, R. (2021). Relationship between high-frequency activity in the sensory and the motor hand areas, and regional myelin content. bioRxiv.

Dubbioso, R., Madsen, K. H., Thielscher, A., & Siebner, H. R. (2021). The myelin content of the human precentral hand knob reflects interindividual differences in manual motor control at the physiological and behavioral level. Journal of Neuroscience, 41(14), 3163-3179.

Conde, V., Tomasevic, L., Akopian, I., Stanek, K., Saturnino, GB., Thielscher, A., Bergmann, TO., & Siebner, HR.: The non-transcranial TMS-evoked potential is an inherent source of ambiguity in TMS-EEG studies. Neuroimage 2019, 185, 300-312.

Raffin, E., & Siebner, HR.: Use-dependent plasticity in human primary motor hand area:synergistic interplay between trainng and immobilization. Cerebral Cortex 2018, 29(1), 356-371.

Dubbioso, R., Raffin, E., Karabanov, A., Thielscher, A., & Siebner, HR.: (2017) Centre-surround organization of fast sensorimotor integration in human motor hand area. Neuroimage, 2017, 158, 37-47.

Raffin E, Pellegrino G, Di Lazzaro V, Thielscher A, Siebner HR: Bringing transcranial mapping into shape: Sulcus-aligned mapping captures motor somatotopy in human primary motor hand area. Neuroimage. 2015;120:164-

Karabanov AN, Ziemann U, Hamada M, George MS, Quartarone A, Classen J, Massimini M, Rothwell J, Siebner HR (2015) Probing Homeostatic Plasticity of Human Cortex With Non-invasive Transcranial Brain Stimulation. Vol. 8(3) p. 442-54