Florida Atlantic: Breaking Barriers in Neuroscience

As Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease rates climb nationwide, the need for faster, more precise treatments has never been more urgent. Florida Atlantic University is at the forefront of that effort.

In 2025, Florida Atlantic launched the world’s first fully integrated “bench-to-bedside” MRI and focused ultrasound platform. The newly expanded FAU NeuroInnovate Center will further accelerate breakthroughs in brain disorders and move discoveries from the research lab “bench” to a patient’s “bedside” with unprecedented speed.

Neurological Disorders Take a Toll

Every 65 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s disease. Today, an estimated 6.5 million Americans age 65 and older are living with the condition, making it the sixth leading cause of death among older adults. And the numbers are rising. Add to that the nearly 1 million Americans living with Parkinson’s disease, and the scale of the mounting neurological health emergency becomes unmistakable.

These are not abstract figures. They represent grandparents who no longer recognize their children, spouses who slowly lose shared memories and professionals diagnosed in the prime of their lives. Nearly 4% of patients with Parkinson’s are diagnosed before age 50. As the population ages, the human, emotional and economic toll continues to grow. Taken together, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s represent hundreds of billions of dollars in annual costs in the U.S., making them among the most economically burdensome chronic diseases. The bulk of these costs derive not only from medical care and long-term services, but from lost income, unpaid caregiving and reduced workforce participation by patients and family members.

The Challenge

For decades, scientists have worked tirelessly to develop therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Yet one biological reality has stood in the way: the blood-brain barrier. This tightly regulated network of blood vessels protects the brain from harmful substances circulating in the bloodstream. It is an extraordinary evolutionary defense system. But it also blocks nearly all pharmaceuticals from entering the brain in meaningful concentrations.

The promise of many breakthrough drugs has been tempered by this single, stubborn problem. Even when therapies show promise in the lab, delivering them effectively to the brain proves incredibly challenging.

FAU’s NeuroInnovate Center is turning that challenge into opportunity. Using focused ultrasound, the technology temporarily opens the blood-brain barrier, allowing therapies to reach areas of the brain that were previously inaccessible.

“Never before has a single institution integrated preclinical and clinical imaging with focused ultrasound capabilities within one comprehensive, unified research environment,” said FAU President Adam Hasner. “This is far more than just a milestone for Florida Atlantic University. This groundbreaking initiative positions our region and state at the forefront of innovation in research, education and health care delivery. We are excited to lead the way in bringing revolutionary research and technologies to the frontlines of medicine.”

Precision Without Incision

At the core of this revolutionary technique is the seamless integration of advanced MRI systems with low-frequency focused ultrasound. Focused ultrasound is a non-invasive technology that uses multiple beams of sound waves precisely targeted deep in the body. The intersecting beams can heat or mechanically affect tissue with millimeter precision — all without surgery or incisions.

By directing acoustic energy so precisely through the skull, focused ultrasound can temporarily and safely open the blood-brain barrier, creating a narrow window for drugs to reach the brain. Real-time MRI guidance lets clinicians monitor and adjust treatment on the spot, ensuring unmatched precision and safety and delivering therapies that were previously impossible.

With this fully integrated system, researchers can study disease mechanisms, test treatments in real time and apply those therapies directly to patients. It begins with the preclinical MRI, which is used for research in animal models. Once a treatment shows promise, it can move seamlessly to human trials using the clinical MRI system that guides and monitors therapies in a safe, controlled setting.

Developed and commercialized by Insightec, based in Miami and Haifa, Israel, the Exablate Neuro platform is an incisionless, MRI-guided focused ultrasound system. It is FDA-approved for essential tremor and Parkinson’s, and more than 30,000 patients worldwide have been treated. It provides relief from tremors that can make everyday tasks like drinking from a glass or tying shoelaces difficult. Focused ultrasound also is used to treat uterine fibroids, painful bone metastases, prostate tumors and certain cancers. With more than a million patients treated worldwide, the technology is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of precision, non-invasive medicine.

Building on this, FAU scientists and physicians will develop new research protocols across a broad spectrum of neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, brain cancers, addiction disorders and ALS.

“We are the only institution in the world where preclinical MRI and focused ultrasound operate together as a fully integrated platform,” said Gregg Fields, Ph.D., vice president for research and head of FAU’s NeuroInnovate Center. “That level of coordination is unprecedented, and it gives us the ability to train researchers and clinicians to move seamlessly between discovery and patient care. Its true promise lies in the wide-reaching potential of this technology to transform how we understand, study and treat neurological disorders.”

A Historic First

In 2023, Delray Medical Center, in collaboration with FAU’s Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention and Insightec, became the first hospital in Florida to treat a patient with Alzheimer’s using the non-invasive focused ultrasound technology as part of a groundbreaking clinical trial. By directing ultrasound waves — guided in real time by MRI — at targeted regions of the brain to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier, therapeutic agents are able to reach areas of the brain affected by protein buildup, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, potentially improving the effectiveness of treatments.

“Drug passage through the blood-brain barrier is perhaps one of the greatest challenges in neurology,” Fields said. “The treatment of the first patient in Florida with the non-invasive focused ultrasound technology represents a significant advancement for potential drug delivery and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders.”

The trial, which is FDA-approved, aims to evaluate both the safety and efficacy of this approach in Alzheimer’s. The first patient enrolled in the trial at Delray Medical Center received treatments in 2023, marking a major milestone in the use of focused ultrasound to overcome one of neurology’s most persistent barriers to drug delivery. The trial is ongoing and actively recruiting participants, with an estimated completion date of 2030.

“Delray Medical Center is proud and excited to be a leader in this effort to determine the safety and efficacy of this potentially revolutionary treatment for Alzheimer’s patients,” said Lloyd Zucker, M.D., FAANS, a board-certified neurosurgeon and medical director of neurosurgery at Delray Medical Center. “The study will help determine whether the use of this non-invasive focused ultrasound technology can lead to cognitive improvement in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”

A Neuroscience Ecosystem

With the continuing growth of the NeuroInnovate Center, FAU now boasts an even more dynamic neuroscience ecosystem anchored by the state-of-the-art FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute. Located on the John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter, it is a collaborative hub where researchers unite to decode the brain’s most complex mysteries and translate discoveries into real-world improvements in quality of life.

The NeuroInnovate Center strengthens the university’s reputation as a Carnegie R1 top-tier research institution, building on its deep expertise and strategic investment in neuroscience. It also amplifies FAU’s existing partnerships connecting the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute with the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology and the globally renowned Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. Together, this network forms a powerhouse for brain research, education and innovation, driving breakthroughs that have the potential to transform lives.

“The FAU NeuroInnovate Center is a one-of-a-kind platform that enables us to perform preclinical research at an entirely new level,” said Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., executive director of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, the David J. S. Nicholson Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience, and professor of biomedical science in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. “By studying brain function in animal models with high-resolution functional and structural MRI, we can uncover fundamental mechanisms that underlie complex neurological and neuro-developmental conditions like ADHD, autism and Parkinson’s disease. These models are essential for building the knowledge base that drives translational breakthroughs. With this integrated benchto- bedside initiative, our discoveries in the lab can more efficiently inform the development of therapies that ultimately benefit patients.”

Training the Next Generation

The FAU NeuroInnovate Center is not just a research engine — it is an educational incubator.

In collaboration with regional hospitals and world-renowned research partners, FAU is leveraging this technology to train students, resident physicians and early-career professionals, giving them unparalleled access to advanced tools and realworld research.

“This pioneering system will serve as a cornerstone for educating the next generation of physicians, scientists and biomedical engineers,” said Lewis S. Nelson, M.D., dean and chief of health affairs of FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine. “By offering an immersive, hands-on learning environment, it will empower future health professionals to lead with innovation and shape the future of medicine.”

The center’s suite of advanced MRI equipment and the Insightec low-frequency focused ultrasound unit creates a fully unified environment that supports everything from preclinical investigations to FDA-regulated clinical trials and patient care. Students, physician residents and faculty members gain hands-on exposure to the same tools used in innovative clinical and translational research.

Through this immersive training ecosystem, FAU is not only advancing the science of the brain but also cultivating the skills, curiosity and leadership of the professionals who will drive the next era of medical breakthroughs.

The Promise Ahead

What FAU has created is more than a technological fusion — it is a philosophical shift in how neuroscience is pursued and applied. For decades, the field has been fragmented: basic scientists working in one domain and clinicians in another, with discoveries often taking years or even decades to reach the patients who need them most.

The integrated MRI and focused ultrasound platform at FAU collapses that timeline. By combining imaging, intervention and real-time monitoring in a single system, researchers can move quickly from observation to action, accelerating the pace of discovery.

“This level of imaging and intervention opens the door to understanding and treating brain disorders in ways that were unimaginable even a decade ago,” said Michael Dobbs, M.D., chair of the Clinical Neurosciences Department and the inaugural FairfaxWood Chair of Clinical Neurosciences in the Schmidt College of Medicine. “We can assess brain structure, monitor real-time blood flow and track treatment effects — all with extraordinary precision. The implications for disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are profound.”

In February, the FAU NeuroInnovate Center received $1 million in federal funding, championed by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., providing critical support for its groundbreaking research and clinical innovation efforts to enhance diagnosis, advance treatment options and improve patient outcomes.

For the millions living with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s — and the millions more who will be diagnosed in the coming decades — time is of the essence. FAU’s platform is poised to turn that time into action: drugs developed in the laboratory can be tested in translational models and delivered to patients within months, not years. Parkinson’s tremors can be alleviated without incisions, Alzheimer’s plaques targeted with millimeter precision, depression treated through non-invasive neuromodulation, and brain cancers rendered more responsive to immunotherapy. What once seemed impossible is now unfolding at the FAU NeuroInnovate Center.

“What we’ve built is a truly integrated research platform — one that enables us to examine everything from molecular changes in clinical models to real-time treatment responses in human patients. The impact this will have on fasttracking discoveries across disciplines is hard to overstate,” said Fields. “This is not just the next step in medical innovation, it’s the future — and it’s happening right here at Florida Atlantic University.”