Boosting Brain Metabolism in Spaceflight with Transcranial Photobiomodulation

The objective of this proposal is to develop a new technique for enhancing brain activity by applying safe levels of laser light to the forehead. It is known that near-infrared light is absorbed by an enzyme in the mitochondria and subsequently leads to greater energy availability in the stimulated cells. When stimulating the brain, this additional energy can be used by brain cells to carry out the necessary functions required to maintain high cognitive performance (for example, sustained attention, accurate memory recall). We will test the proposed technology by scanning participants’ brain activity while they receive laser stimulation to the forehead and at the same time perform a challenging perceptual task. We will also perform experiments where Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are used to stimulate participants’ brains while they are trained on a working memory task and simultaneously have their brain activity measured. Our expectation is that we will observe increased energy metabolism in the frontal part of the brain, as well as an improvement in the performance of both perceptual and memory tasks. We expect that this research will lead to a new, non-pharmacological technique for boosting the performance of the brain by delivering safe levels of near-infrared light to the brain.

The technology being developed has potential utility in spaceflight, investigative treatments for depression and other vascular related disorders, as well as cognitive enhancement. We expect that the publications stemming from this project will become highly cited and spur the development of transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) in basic and clinical neuroscience.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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