UPHummel Lab
Research
The mission of the Hummel Lab is to develop novel personalized, neurotechnological interventions tailored to the individual to enhance functional recovery of sensorimotor and cognitive functions in patients suffering from neurological disorders, such as stroke, TBI or neurodegenerative disorders, and bring these neuro-technologies from âbench to clinical bedsideâ. An excellent understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the disorders and recovery processes, and the development of biomarkers is an important basis to achieve this goal.
Friedhelm Hummel Awarded 2024 FĂŒrst Donnersmarck Prize
We are honored to announce that Prof. Hummel received the 2024 FĂŒrst Donnersmarck Research Prize for Neurorehabilitation, presented in Berlin on December 6. This prestigious award recognizes his labâs research on brain recovery, integrating neuroimaging, non-invasive brain stimulation, and computational approaches to develop personalized therapies, with the ultimate goal to enhance motor and cognitive rehabilitation following neurological disorders.
The foundation particularly recognized our teamâs recent transformative research, published in Nature Neuroscience (2023), demonstrating how non-invasive brain stimulation can improve motor skill learning for the first time in humans.Â
Prof. Hummel and his team are grateful to the FĂŒrst Donnersmarck Foundation for this recognition and excited to continue advancing neurorehabilitation. Check out the Foundation website and EPFL press release for more information.
Photos credit : FĂŒrst Donnersmarck foundation/Enno Hurlin.
Latest news
The press release on our work on spatial navigation is now out
In our work recently published in Science Advances, we have combined virtual reality, non-invasive brain stimulation and advanced brain imaging techniques to improve spatial navigation in healthy participants. The study is a first step in addressing dementia in an aging population without medication or surgery. Click below to read the great press release by Michael David Mitchell and to learn more about the clinical implications of our research
Our recent study made the cover of Science Advances
We aimed to explore how deep brain areas, specifically the hippocampal-entorhinal complex (HC-EC), play a role in spatial memory. Using a noninvasive technique called transcranial temporal interference stimulation (tTIS), we targeted the right HC-EC in healthy volunteers during a virtual reality navigation task, combined with functional MRI. tTIS improved navigation performance which was associated with changes in HC-EC neural activity. These results show that we can directly selectively and non-invasively modulate HC-EC activity leading to behavioral improvement in spatial memory. Check out the publication for more information.
New study published in Nature Human Behaviour!
Our paper on the effect of non-invasive transcranial temporal interference stimulation targeting the striatum during reinforcement learning is now out in Nature Human Behaviour! It has been featured in several important French-speaking medias such as Le Soir, France Info and Le Monde
Our work on reinforcement learning featured in Le Monde (June 5th, 2024)
Big congratulations to all co-authors and in particular to first author Pierre Vassiliadis. This work was part of Pierreâs PhD entitled âMechanisms underlying reinforcement learning of motor skillsâ, performed jointly at EPFL and in the lab of Prof. Julie Duque at UCLouvain (Belgium). Pierre used different approaches including in-depth kinematic analyses, fMRI and transcranial temporal interference stimulation to explore reinforcement processes at play during motor learning.
Big congratulations to Pierre, winner of the Biaggi de Blasys award 2024
Pierre was recently awarded the Biaggi de Blasys award 2024 at the Brain awareness week in Lausanne. This prize is attributed once a year to the author of an outstanding PhD thesis in translational neuroscience in doctoral schools of the lemanic area (UNIL, UNIGE, EPFL).
Computer vision enhances home tDCS Treatment: A Success Story from the DiSCoVeR project
Our study “Computer vision-based algorithm to sUppoRt coRrect electrode placemeNT (CURRENT) for home-based electric non-invasive brain stimulation” has been highlighted as success story by the multinational funding agency ERA-NET NEURON. As part of the DiSCoVeR project, examining the effects of a cognitive control videogame paired with tDCS on alleviating depression symptoms in a home-based set-up, this study tested a novel computer vision algorithm to monitor cap placement accuracy and guide patients at home to increase confidence, compliance and improve electrode positioning.
BMI Best Thesis prize 2023
We are proud to announce that Elena has been awarded the BMI Best Thesis prize 2023 – by EDNE director Prof. GrĂ€ff – for her amazing work on Temporal Interference stimulation. Congratulations!
New paper out in Nature Neuroscience
Our latest paper entitled “Noninvasive theta-burst stimulation of the human striatum enhances striatal activity and motor skill learning” by Maximilan J. Wessel, Elena Beanato, and colleagues is now out in Nature Neuroscience.
Sion Stroke Recovery Conference 2023
The conference will gather world leading experts to discuss current challenges and new directions in the field of stroke recovery with a focus on neurotechnologies. Join us on December 11-12 at Energypolis Campus in Sion!
More about us
Studying the human body to drive scientific progress
Human biology is the research focus of a number of EPFL labs, where scientists conduct clinical trials with volunteers to design therapeutic interventions and to learn more about how the body functions. One major goal of our lab is developing therapies for stroke survivors using state-of-art neurotechnologies. Find out more about our work here!
Virtual lab visit
Take a virtual tour through Campus Biotech, the Geneva campus of EPFL, and explore our lab as well as many more aspects of this thriving research environment.