Brainclinics News

Yesterday, we celebrated the culmination of a remarkable journey with the completion of the 10th Brainclinics Foundation PhD. This milestone has yielded a wealth of new insights and discoveries that have positively impacted numerous patients worldwide. For access to all the PhD theses and additional works developed over the years, feel free to download them from our repository: https://lnkd.in/e7ZSThgj

Yesterday Dr. Amourie Prentice succesfully defended her PhD, join me in congratulating her with a great achievement. Her PhD focused on EEG biomarkers associated with treatment resistance and several chapters that advanced our understanding of Orbitofrontal cortex TMS in depression as a novel TMS target. Her PhD thesis can be downloaded here: https://lnkd.in/ewk5Re5F Thanks for the collaboration Alexander Sack, Nikita van der Vinne, Synaeda, Martijn Arns and the reading committee, opposition: Teresa Schuhmann, Pim Drinkenburg, Martijn Figee, Bart Rutten, Arjan Blokland, Fren Smulders, Peter De Weerd

📢 Speaker Highlight: Joshua Brown Join us in Nijmegen, Netherlands (Sept 30-Oct 2) for his talk: 'Leveraging the synaptic mechanism of TMS with pharmacological augmentation' at the Brainclinics Foundation TMS Masterclass. Sign-up here: https://lnkd.in/e8dzv_7R

🧠 Ready to deepen your TMS expertise? Join us in Nijmegen, the Netherlands 🇳🇱 from September 30 – October 2, 2025, for the annual TMS Masterclass & Certification Course by Brainclinics Foundation! 💡 Whether you’re just getting started or already a seasoned professional, this course offers cutting-edge insights, hands-on training, and exclusive networking opportunities with global leaders in TMS. 🚨 Spots are limited – secure yours now! Register now: https://lnkd.in/gXrAi5Du #TMSCertification #BrainStimulation #TMSCourse #Neurology #Psychiatry #ClinicalTMS #TMSExperts #MagVenture #Neuromodulation #MentalHealth #MentalHealthMatters #HealthcareInnovation #rTMS #rtms #neuroscience #tmsresearch #tms #academyofbrainstimulation Martijn Arns

You can now call me Dr. Dijkstra! Yesterday, I successfully defended my PhD. After years of research, writing, and analyzing, I had the honour of defending my dissertation “The Heart–Brain Connection: A Pathway to Personalized TMS Treatment” in front of an inspiring committee of experts. A heartfelt thank-you to my supervisors Alexander Sack, Martijn Arns and Hanneke van Dijk and to my assessment and defense committee members Bernadette M. Jansma, Bart Rutten, Martin Tik, Anne Weigand, Sonja Kotz, and Teresa Schuhmann for their time, thoughtful questions, and engaging discussion. This project explored how real-time physiological signals — heart–brain coupling — could help us personalize rTMS treatment in depression. I’m excited about the future of biomarker-driven mental health care, and proud to contribute a small step in that direction. If you're interested, you can read the full dissertation here: https://lnkd.in/eVmfmdRX. To everyone who supported me along the way: thank you! 📸 Photo by Stefan Sanders Fotografie.

Tomorrow Eva Dijkstra will defend her PhD thesis: The Heart-Brain Connection: A pathway to personalized TMS treatment at Maastricht University with supervisors Alexander Sack, Martijn Arns and Hanneke van Dijk Congrats Eva Dijkstra with this great achievement and enjoy your day! Download her - and many other - PhD theses here: https://lnkd.in/ewk5Re5F Also great thanks to the reading committee: Martin Tik, Anne Weigand, Bart Rutten & Bernadette M. Jansma

In collaboration with Brainclinics Foundation and Martijn Arns, Eva Dijkstra - an external PhD student within Brain Stimulation lab at Maastricht University - conducted a study exploring heart-brain coupling (HBC) as a potential biomarker for TMS-induced frontal-vagal engagement. The aim was to show that heart-brain coupling may serve as an objective marker for improved TMS site selection and determination of individualized frontal excitability thresholds. In order to assess this, the study was split into 2 parts: Study 1 (A and B): Intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS)–induced HBC (2 seconds iTBS on; 8 seconds off: HBC = 0.1 Hz) was validated in 15 (1A) and 22 (1B) patients with major depressive disorder from 2 double-blind placebo-controlled studies. Study 2: 10 healthy subjects received a 10-Hz "Dash" protocol (5 seconds on, 11 seconds off; 0.0625 Hz) across four TMS sites with varying intensities with the goal of observing any dose-dependent and site-specific HBC responses. Key Findings: In Study 1A, heart-brain coupling (HBC) successfully distinguished active from sham intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) with 83% accuracy, with only active stimulation producing rhythmic heart rate decelerations at 0.1 Hz that were tightly coupled to the stimulation trains. Study 1B further demonstrated the robustness of HBC as a marker, accurately predicting stimulation condition with 89.5% accuracy - even when active and sham stimulation were delivered at the same scalp location. In Study 2, the authors observed clear dose-dependent entrainment of HBC at 0.0625 Hz, with effects varying according to the stimulation site, highlighting the spatial sensitivity of HBC responses.   Implications: These findings suggest that HBC can serve as a reliable, non-invasive biomarker for assessing TMS-induced engagement of the frontal-vagal network. Incorporating HBC measurements could enhance the precision of TMS therapy by informing site selection and dosing parameters, potentially improving outcomes for individuals undergoing treatment for depression. Special thanx to Eva Dijkstra for her contribution to this study and best of luck for her upcoming Phd defense at Maastricht University this Wednesday (04.06.2025)!!!   👏 Thank you to all authors Eva Dijkstra, Hanneke van Dijk, Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, Lauren Zwienenberg, Renée R., John Coetzee, Daniel Blumberger, Jonathan Downar, Nolan Williams, Alexander Sack and Martijn Arns for their valuable contributions  🔗 Full article can be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/e94nSMkc   #TMS #HeartBrainCoupling #DepressionTreatment #Neuromodulation

New speaker announcement: Joseph Taylor (Harvard University) will present at the Brainclinics TMS Masterclass and Certification Course his latest results and insights titled: From Scalp to Circuit: Evolving TMS Targeting Approaches. This will include the latest results from the AINT trial with very exciting outcomes answering what the added value of fMRI based TMS targetting is! Seats are filling-up fast, sign-up here: https://lnkd.in/e8dzv_7R

Inspiring days at Lviv hospital with great talks by Ilan Harpaz-Rotem and Noah Philip, along with the successful completion of the first TMS hands-on training day. Walking through the hospital and nightly bomb shelters bring the horrors of war very close, emphasizing the urgent need for these atrocities to come to an end soon. Also great thanks to organizing committee, UNBROKEN Ukraine and our great host Oleg Berezyuk!