Aiming focused ultrasound at Alzheimer’s disease
A fellowship will help support Yunruo 'Trista' Ni’s graduate research at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC as she investigates how low-intensity focused ultrasound can modify brain circuits to treat memory disorders.
A James R. Carter Sr. Memorial Award is supporting Yunruo “Trista” Ni’s Alzheimer’s research in Assistant Professor Wynn Legon’s lab at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. Photo by Clayton Metz for Virginia Tech.
Yunruo “Trista” Ni has been building toward her current neuroscience research at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC since she was an undergraduate.
At Boston University, she contributed to deep-learning tools for Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and helped build an imaging pipeline with brain MRI data from more than 10,000 patients. Her master’s degree in biomedical engineering at Carnegie-Mellon University exposed her to the potential of focused ultrasound for modulating brain circuit activity.
Now, as a graduate student in Virginia Tech’s Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program, Ni is working with her mentor, Wynn Legon, investigating how the technology can translate into therapies for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders.
Her work has earned her a James R. Carter Sr. Memorial Award from the Swing It to End It organization. The $5,000 Carter fellowships are given to Virginia Tech graduate students conducting translational neuroscience research with a faculty mentor at the institute. Annette Carter created the awards to honor and remember her late husband by supporting the study of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The awards are funded through a golf tournament and other charitable events.
“From the outset, Trista demonstrated an uncommon level of intellectual independence and creativity,” said Legon, assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. “She has enormous potential to be a leader in the field of translational neuromodulation for memory applications.”
Ni talked about her work and what inspired it.
Can you describe your research focus and current research projects?
My research focuses on developing personalized low-intensity focused ultrasound for episodic memory enhancement. I'm investigating how we can personalize this approach using fMRI-guided targeting to identify the optimal brain regions for each individual, and tailor the stimulation timing to match each person's natural brain rhythms. My current projects examine where, when, and how to apply this stimulation to achieve the most effective memory improvements.
The impact of the work lies in its potential to establish low-intensity focused ultrasound as a noninvasive, neuronal circuit-specific intervention for enhancing memory function — a critical need in aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
What inspired you to pursue this path, and what are your career goals?
Coming from a computational background, my first engagement with translational neuroscience began when I contributed to diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s disease using brain MRI data. The experience introduced me to the impact of computational techniques on neurodegenerative disease and sparked my commitment to using engineering to advance human health.
My goal is to translate this fundamental research into clinical therapeutic interventions for individuals experiencing memory dysfunction, whether due to aging, neurological conditions, or brain injury.
I'm inspired by the potential to develop precise, personalized, non-invasive treatments that could meaningfully improve people's quality of life and cognitive health.
How do Virginia Tech, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, and this fellowship support your work?
The research institute provides an exceptional environment for conducting neuroscience research. FBRI [the institute] is equipped with state-of-the-art tools essential for my work, and the intellectually vibrant environment here fosters a truly collaborative research culture.
The Carter Memorial Award has been instrumental in advancing my research in several key ways. It provides funding for study participant compensation, which enables me to collect valuable human data that forms the foundation of my studies.
The award has also supported my attendance at major conferences including the Society for Neuroscience and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Neural Engineering, where I've had the opportunity to present my work, receive feedback from leading researchers in the field, and learn about cutting-edge techniques that have helped refine my experimental approaches.
