RESEARCH AT THE FOREFRONT OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND ALZHEIMER’S TREATMENT, with Stuart Hameroff

On March 1st, 2023 CIHS hosted a very special symposium with Stuart Hameroff, founder and director of the Tucson Science of Consciousness Conferences, and CIHS Research Faculty.

Dr. Hameroff will presented a research project assessing transcranial ultrasound (TUS) interventions for Alzheimer's, in the context of quantum-based (Orchestrated Objective Reduction) neuroscientific models of consciousness.

A clinical trial of transcranial ultrasound (TUS) for Alzheimer’s dementia

Stuart Hameroff MD, Professor, Anesthesiology, Psychology

Director, Center for Consciousness Studies

The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Research Faculty, California Institute for Human Science, Encinitas, California

Alzheimer’s dementia (‘AD’) impairs memory, cognition and consciousness, and is associated with two types of brain lesions: 1) ‘beta amyloid plaques’ outside neurons, and 2) ‘neurofibrillary tangles’ inside neurons. Most research funding and therapy have targeted amyloid plaques, with minimal success. Neurofibrillary tangles are clumps of hyper-phosphorylated ‘tau’, a protein normally bound to specific loci on microtubules, key components of the neuronal cytoskeleton (and hypothesized to encode memory and generate consciousness). Removal of tau from microtubules is associated with disassembly of microtubules, shortening of neurons, and loss of synapses. Microtubules have collective vibrational resonances in kilohertz, megahertz, gigahertz and terahertz frequency ranges, such resonances are thought to support memory, cognition and consciousness. Exposure of neurons to megahertz mechanical vibrations (ultrasound) causes neurite sprouting and axon regeneration. Exposure of human subjects’ brains to low intensity ultrasound at the scalp (‘transcranial ultrasound’, ‘TUS’) is painless and enhances mood. In AD patients, single, brief TUS treatments improve cognition for up to a month. Safe, painless and inexpensive, low intensity TUS enhances mood and cognition, and should be tried in AD. With informed consent and Human Subjects committee approval, we propose clinical trials of TUS on AD patients in memory care facilities to verify its safety and determine its effects on cognition and mood.