Skip to content
Project Directory
  • Français
Donate Now
  • Français
  • About
    • What We Do
    • Leadership
    • Team
    • Publications
    • Careers
  • Diseases/Disorders
    • One Brain
    • ALS
    • Alzheimer’s
    • Autism
    • Brain Cancer
    • Brain Injury
    • Epilepsy
    • Mental Illness
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Parkinson’s
    • Stroke
    • Other
  • Research
    • Programs
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Program Partners
    • Announcements
  • Impact
  • Ways To Give
    • Giving to Research
    • How You Can Help
    • Events

Funded Grants

Back to results

Neural predictors of theta burst stimulation

Project Overview

In Canada, 1 in 20 people live with depression. Substantial efforts have been made over the years to develop new treatments to enhance therapeutic options. One effective alternative to medication is theta burst stimulation (TBS). This technique uses magnetic fields applied to the outside of the head to modulate brain regions believed to be involved in depression. This treatment involves a daily 3-min session of stimulation (Mon to Fri) for four consecutive weeks.

Although we know TBS to be effective, we do not fully understand its detailed impact on the brain. Additionally, we know that about 50% of people respond to TBS, which is comparable to the response rate of antidepressant medication. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to predict who will likely respond to treatment. As such, doctors use a trial-and-error strategy, and need to wait several weeks before knowing if a treatment is helping a person or not.

In the proposed project, the main objective is to directly tackle these issues using an innovative brain imaging technique that allows us to simultaneously measure changes in brain metabolism and in connectivity between brain regions. Our first aim is to use this imaging technique to study the mechanisms of action of TBS on the healthy brain. Our second aim is to predict the therapeutic response to TBS treatment in people with depression, based upon changes in their brain’s metabolism/connectivity measured after their first TBS session.

This pioneering study is the first to simultaneously measure brain metabolism and connectivity to explore for predictors of outcome and mechanisms of action of TBS. Results from this study will help to directly reduce social and economic burdens for Canadians, via the development of more personalized, reliable, and efficient treatment options for people living with depression.

Principal Investigator

Sara Tremblay , University of Ottawa

Partners and Donors

Arrell Family Foundation

Project Ongoing

Neural predictors of theta burst stimulation

  • Program Type

    Capacity building grants

  • Area of research

    Mental Health

  • Disease Area

    Mental illness

  • Competition

    Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research

  • Province

    Ontario

  • Start Date

    2021

  • Total Grant Amount

    $100,000

Contact Us

1200 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1600, Montreal, Quebec
H3B 4G7

+1 (514) 989-2989 info@braincanada.ca

Playing with Marbles Podcast

Join us and take a journey to the real last great frontier – the brain.

Listen

Subscribe to Brain News

Receive our monthly electronic newsletter with updates on funded projects, upcoming events and breakthroughs in brain research.

Sign Up

Territorial acknowledgement

The offices of Brain Canada Foundation are located on the traditional, ancestral territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Peoples, a place which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst nations. We honour and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging, and dedicate ourselves to moving forward in the spirit of partnership, collaboration, and reconciliation. In our work, we focus our efforts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those that pertain to improving health for Indigenous Peoples and that focus on advancing our own learning on Indigenous issues.

© 2023 Brain Canada Foundation

Registration number: 89105 2094 RR0001

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Design by Field Trip & Co