SPARC Phase 2
The NIH Common Fund Program, SPARC, which stands for Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions is an open-science initiative dedicated to advancing understanding of the autonomic and peripheral nervous systems (ANS & PNS) and their role in health and disease.
Phase 2 (2022-present) is underway and focuses on the human vagus. SPARC Investigators are charged with sharing their outcomes on the SPARC Portal to expand on and augment the science arising from this program.
Focusing on the human vagus, Phase 2 began in late 2022
The SPARC research initiatives complement and benefit each other; for example, functionality is being developed to use histological and statistical data on nerve morphology and its variability to assess the performance and safety of neural interfaces for open-source devices. With the Neuromod Prize, NIH hopes to bridge the gap between early-stage research and clinical use, bringing innovative neuromodulation therapies to patients. Teams compete through multiple phases from concept paper to IDE-enabling studies in a rigorously compressed timeline.
Vagus Nerve Mapping and Physiology
Our research is designed to provide inter-subject variability information, and will give new insights into the detailed structure and function of the vagus nerve
Reconstructing Vagal Anatomy (REVA)
- REVA-The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Northwell Health
- REVA-Case Western Reserve University
SPARC VNS Endpoints from Standardized Parameters (VESPA)
Human Open Research Neural Engineering Technologies Initiative
Our research is designed to creating open-source device specifications for hardware, software, firmware, and other technology modules needed to build neuromodulation systems.
HORNET
Neuromod prize
The Neuromod Prize is a SPARC (Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions) initiative from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund. The competition seeks groundbreaking uses of peripheral nerve stimulation that can independently regulate two or more desired autonomic functions without unintended effects on non-target organs.
Phase 1 was open to all eligible participants — including scientists, engineers, and clinicians — to submit novel concepts and plans for development. Phase 2 invited eight Phase 1 winners to build on their submissions. The competition is currently in Phase 3, where four winners from Phase 2 are conducting IDE-enabling studies.
Neuromod Announcements
The Common Fund’s Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) program accelerates development of therapeutic devices that modulate electrical activity in nerves to improve organ function. This therapeutic strategy, also known as “bioelectronic medicine,” could offer new treatment options for diverse diseases and conditions such as hypertension, heart failure, gastrointestinal disorders, and more.
The SPARC BioRxiv channel
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