BCIwiki (bciwiki.com) — Neurotech Reports reports that Arbor Neuroscience plans to develop brain maps linking signal changes after neuromodulation with the neural circuits associated with specific symptoms. Its CEO, Philip Sabes, is also a cofounder of Neuralink. He argues that people with the same diagnosis can experience different symptoms and proposes exploring treatment plans guided by symptom-to-circuit relationships rather than diagnostic labels alone.
The report describes two planned maps. The first would track the effects of neuromodulation interventions and identify signals that change when an intervention occurs. The second would connect specific symptoms with specific circuits to help identify targets for symptoms appearing across different diagnoses. These are Arbor Neuroscience's research objectives, not evidence that the maps are complete or that treatments based on them have been validated.
Arbor Neuroscience is part of Convergent Research and was formerly Forest Neurotech, founded by Sumner Norman, Tyson Aflalo, and Will Biederman. The report describes Arbor as a Focused Research Organization, a time-bound organization addressing a specific scientific challenge. Forest Neurotech developed Forest 17, a wearable functional ultrasound imaging device that measures localized blood flow changes driven by neural activity. According to the report, the next version is intended to add focused ultrasound neuromodulation, combining imaging with intervention.
These devices are research instruments for people who have had a section of skull replaced with an ultrasound-transparent implant, usually following surgery for trauma, stroke, or a tumor. The report notes that most skull-replacement implants use ultrasound-opaque materials. Arbor estimates that tens of thousands of people in the U.S. have implants that permit functional ultrasound imaging. This is the organization's estimate of a potential population, not a count of device users or clinical trial participants.