Photobiomodulation for the Brain

Farzad Salehpour is a Ph.D. student in Behavioral Neuroscience at The University of Texas at Austin. He received his M.Sc. degree in Medical Physics from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Currently, he serves as a research assistant at THOR Photomedicine Inc. in Millersville, MD, USA. He also delivers training sessions and lectures on brain  photobiomodulation at the College for Light Medicine/Photobiomodulation in Starnberg, Germany. In addition, Farzad is an expert scientific advisor for ProNeuroLIGHT LLC in Phoenix, AZ. He has contributed to more than 35 scientific peer-reviewed publications and four book chapters, and has been an invited speaker at various national and international conferences. His primary research focus is photobiomodulation therapy in neurorehabilitation. Over the past six years, Farzad has had highly productive collaborations with many universities and photomedicine-related companies worldwide, including Neurosciences Research Center (Tabriz, Iran), Dell Medical School (Austin, TX), Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA), Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA), Wellman Center for Photomedicine (Boston, MA), National University of Ireland (Galway, Ireland), Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Wroclaw, Poland), QuietMind Foundation (Elkins Park, PA), LiteCure LLC (Newark, DE), VieLight Inc (Toronto, Canada), Niraxx Light Therapeutics (Irvine, CA), CeraThrive LLC (Minneapolis, MN), and Neuropathy Treatment Centers of America (Phoenix, AZ), to advance the science and technology and elucidate mechanisms of photobiomodulation in the brain 

Paolo Cassano, M.D., Ph.D.,  is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and Director of Photobiomodulation at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Division of Neuropsychiatry and the MGH Depression Clinical and Research Program. He graduated from the MGH-McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Program in June 2009. Since 2009,he has served as principal investigator (PI) on multiple studies on transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) for several neuropsychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), sponsored by the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD), the Dupont Warren/Livingston Fellowship from Harvard Medical School, and private companies. These groundbreaking projects - in collaboration with the MGH Wellman Center for Photomedicine - have led to promising results and demonstrated the preliminary efficacy of near-infrared radiation for the treatment of mood disorders and for ameliorating cognition. Considerable press attention stemmed from these studies, with CNN and Washington Post coverage at the national level. He is actively pursuing the identification of biological targets of the effects of tPBM at the MGH Laboratory for Neuropsychiatry and Neuromodulation, where he has been the PI on a pilot study to investigate the impact of tPBM on cerebral blood flow (Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy - DCS), on brain electrical activity (electroencephalography - EEG), autonomic reactivity (heart rate variability - HRV and skin conductance - SCR), and cognition in healthy subjects. Dr. Cassano is particularly interested in studying tPBM, as a pro-cognitive intervention, in patients with cognitive impairment and has reported with other groups on tPBM to treat chronic traumatic brain injury and Down syndrome and enhance cognition in healthy volunteers. Dr. Cassano's tPBM research is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute of Aging (NIA), the Alzheimer Association "Part the Cloud," and the Down Syndrome Research Foundation (UK). In Nov 2016, he co-founded a neurotech company, Niraxx Light Therapeutics Inc., to facilitate the technology transfer from translational research to readily available products for the general public.   

Saeed Sadigh-Eteghad, M.Pill, Ph.D., is a prin

Preface.- Introduction.- Biophysical and Safety Aspects of Brain Photobiomodulation.- Light Penetration Into Brain.- Action Mechanisms of Photobiomodulation in Neuronal Cells and the Brain.- Biphasic Dose-response in Photobiomodulation of Neuronal Cells and the Brain.- Light Delivery Approaches for Brain Photobiomodulation.- Preconditioning With Photobiomodulation in Neuronal Cells and the Brain.- Photobiomodulation in Neuronal Cell Cultures.- Photobiomodulation Therapy for Dementia.- Photobiomodulation Therapy for Parkinson's Disease.- Photobiomodulation Therapy for Stroke.- Photobiomodulation Therapy for Traumatic Brain Injury.- Photobiomodulation Therapy for Psychiatric Disorders.- Photobiomodulation Therapy for Other Brain-related Disorders.- Photobiomodulation for Brain Function in Healthy Young and Aging Adults.- Conclusions and Future Directions.