Adaptive Brain Stimulation Research

Research focus

Adaptive stimulation

My research has focused on developing non-invasive neuromodulation methods that interact with cortical beta activity. This work brings together EEG-informed stimulation, closed-loop approaches and the practical engineering needed to address technically demanding research questions.

A long-term aim is to support more precise strategies for reducing pathological beta synchrony in people with Parkinson’s. The academic record below traces the development of this research focus across completed, ongoing and presented work.

Read the NeuroImage article

Academic record

Current position

2026–present: Postdoctoral researcherUniversity Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany

Publications

Fang, Z., Sack, A. T., & Leunissen, I. (2024). The phase of tACS-entrained pre-SMA beta oscillations modulates motor inhibition. NeuroImage, 290, 120572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120572
Fang, Z., Sack, A. T., & Leunissen, I. (2025). Closed-loop anti-phase tACS over preSMA reduced oscillatory beta synchronization and modulated motor inhibition performance. Preprint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.11.25.690566
Fang, Z., ten Oever, S., Sack, A. T., & Leunissen, I. (2025). tACS induces state-dependent shifts in inhibitory phase preference consistent with phase precession. Preprint. https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.11.28.691215
Fang, Z., Sack, A. T., & Leunissen, I. Anti-phase closed-loop tACS disrupts cortico-muscular coherence during isometric contraction. Manuscript in preparation.
Fang, Z., Sack, A. T., & Leunissen, I. Online EEG phase tracking for adaptive tACS: Practical engineering and methodological considerations. Manuscript in preparation.
Fang, Z., Yao, L., & Qian, Z. (2019). Research on multi-parameter visualization technology of brain function based on EEG. In Proceedings of ICMIPE 2019. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICMIPE47306.2019.9098189

Talks

Fang, Z. Closed-loop tACS–EEG modulation of motor inhibition. Presented at the 5th International Brain Stimulation Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 2023.
Fang, Z. Phase-dependent tACS modulates motor inhibition. Presented at the BeNe Brain Stimulation Symposium, Hasselt, Belgium, 2022.
Fang, Z. Real-time visualization technology for EEG brain function. Presented at the International Conference on Medical Imaging Physics and Engineering (ICMIPE), Shenzhen, China, 2019.

Education