Welcome to Unit 4 of the Neuroengineering in Addiction course!
Learning goals:
- Understand the purpose of neuroengineering in addiction treatment
- Understand several neuro-engineering approaches used to treat the brain during and following addiction
- Brainstorm your own approach or ways to modify current approaches to addiction treatment using knowledge gained from this mini-course
Why is neuroengineering important for addiction treatment?
Oftentimes, individuals relapse (fall back into addiction) quicker than the brain can heal from the damage caused by it.
From AAC
Substance Abuse Relapse Rate Visual
The visual mentions that “treatment may need to be adjusted to better suit the individual”. So, what if we could utilize neuroengineering to assist this process of recovery and increase its effectiveness?
Well, we can! Below are three effective methods for treating addiction that utilize neuroengineering approaches to build off the brain's self-repair ability:
Experimental Approach - Stem Cell Therapy & BM-MSCs
Technological Approach 1 - Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Technological Approach 2 - Neuroimaging and Addiction Biomarkers
Congratulations on completing the Neuroengineering in Addiction course!