Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions

In stage one of the program, SPARC supported the development of new tools and technologies, mapped the connections among a variety of different nerves and organ systems, and created a rich public resource (the SPARC Portal, available at sparc.science) that provides scientists with cutting-edge information and tools for advancing bioelectronic medicine. Building on these accomplishments, in stage two of the program SPARC will focus on the anatomy and functional connectivity of the human vagus nerve (SPARC-V), build a new ecosystem of open-specification neuromodulation device components (SPARC-O), challenge the innovator community to prove new capabilities (SPARC-X), and will continue to share data and digital resources through the SPARC Portal. Through these complementary initiatives, SPARC will facilitate the development of new best-in-class bioelectronic medicine therapies:

SPARC-V (Vagus nerve mapping and physiology)

• Creating more precise and detailed maps of the human vagus nerve, a bioelectronic highway that carries two-way electrical signals between the brain and internal organs of the body
• Identifying the physiological effects of altering vagus nerve activity to discover how best to stimulate nerve fibers for specific therapeutic effects

SPARC-O (Open-source neuromodulation technologies)

• Developing open-source technologies and components needed to safely and effectively alter nerve function

SPARC-X (Neuromod Prize)

• Providing an exciting challenge competition that will incentivize groundbreaking proof-of-concept demonstrations of bioelectronic medicine approaches that will help patients, learn more at neuromodprize.com

SPARC Portal (Resources for advancing bioelectronic medicine)

• Advancing bioelectronic medicine by providing open access to digital resources that can be shared, cited, visualized, computed, and used for virtual experimentation, available at sparc.science