MUSC designing helmet to perk up sleepy minds

Imagine an Air Force pilot on an extended mission over Central Asia, sleep-deprived, groggy, fighting to stay alert. Imagine the risks – and the high stakes.

Now imagine that pilot flipping a switch that activates an electromagnetic coil in his helmet. A calibrated, targeted magnetic field zaps into his brain, stimulating cells – and suddenly he’s not sleepy anymore.

Doctors at MUSC imagined it, and now they have received a $2 million Defense Department contract to develop the high-tech equipment that could someday boost a soldier’s ability to think and remember – even if he hasn’t slept for days.

“The military seems very receptive of the idea of using our device (as opposed to drugs),” said Dr. Mark George, director of the Brain Stimulation Laboratory at the Medical University of South Carolina. “We’re the world’s leader in transcranial magnetic stimulation.”

TMS involves placing an electromagnetic coil on a person’s scalp. A high-intensity current rapidly turns on and off in the coil. The current produces a tightly focused magnetic field that lasts for 100 to 200 microseconds – long enough to produce a reaction in the brain cells.

That reaction can lead to what George hopes are predictable results. In the lab Thursday, he placed the coil on a colleague’s head. When the coil was turned on, the right hand of his colleague, Dr. Xingbao Li, twitched.

The potential for the technology is that it could combat the effects of sleep deprivation. People without enough sleep lose some short-term memory and ability to think.

At the same time George stimulated Li’s brain, he also scanned it with a magnetic resonance imaging device, which shows doctors the precise spot in the brain affected by the magnetic field.

In the coming months, George and his colleagues hope they can consistently find a spot in a sleep-deprived person’s brain where magnetic stimulation can increase the ability to remember and perform the complex work required of soldiers and pilots.

Pinpointing the exact spot is critical in developing a helmet that could be worn in battle or while flying an airplane.

George and others at MUSC previously used TMS to search for ways to fight depression. He said tests conducted by other scientists already have indicated that a person’s memory can be improved with TMS.

George’s research will focus on how effectively TMS can improve a sleep-deprived person’s memory and whether it can be developed into a system that’s portable and easy to use.

The contract was awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Pentagon-based agency takes pride “in thinking outside the box,” agency spokeswoman Jan Walter said.

“Our mission is basic research, and we focus on things that would improve the military,” Walter said.

The MUSC contract covers but one of several projects that together could let soldiers stay awake for up to seven days straight. The idea is to wear down an enemy who must fall asleep first.

“For example, dolphins stay awake for a week after giving birth, apparently to guard their young from predators,” Walter said. “We don’t know how they do that, but we want to learn.”

If George’s research over the next 18 months shows TMS actually improves a sleep-deprived person’s memory by 5 percent or more, then the lab will be eligible for a $4 million contract to develop a prototype helmet.

“In the old days, generals like Napoleon would simply throw more soldiers onto the battlefield,” George said. “Today’s military is different. There are fewer soldiers, but their skills are much more demanding.

“A sleepy soldier who dials in the wrong GPS coordinates can do a lot of unwanted damage. We’re trying to make sure that doesn’t happen.”