The NIH Common Fund's Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) program aims to characterize how the autonomic nervous system controls organ function in order to catalyze development of more effective neuromodulation therapies.

Overview

All organs in the body are innervated by nerves, which carry information to and from organs and modulate their function. Methods and medical devices that modulate these nerve signals are a potentially powerful way to treat many diseases and conditions, such as hypertension, heart failure, gastrointestinal disorders, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory disorders, and more. The Common Fund’s Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) program aims to transform our understanding of these nerve-organ interactions and ultimately advance the neuromodulation field towards precise treatment of diseases and conditions for which conventional therapies fall short.

For more information, visit the SPARC page on the NIH Common Fund website.

NIBIB Involvement

NIBIB maintains an active role in SPARC, overseeing the Data and Resource Center. This component serves as a hub for the research, engineering, and clinical components of SPARC by disseminating raw and analyzed data, functional maps, and models generated by SPARC investigators. The Data and Resource Center is designed to host an interactive atlas of human and selected animal peripheral nervous systems, spanning from the end organs under study in SPARC to potential neuromodulation intervention points.

The NIBIB Director, Bruce Tromberg, Ph.D., and the NIBIB Deputy Director, Jill Heemskerk, Ph.D., both serve as co-chairs of the SPARC program.