Congratulations to GridLab PhD student Courtnie Paschall whose work on sensory stimulation in virtual reality was nominated as a finalist for the 2022 BCI Award! Check out her presentation below:
Author: Jeff Herron
Latest results into evaluating new methods of automated DBS programming published in Journal of Neural Engineering
A new article in the Journal of Neural Engineering details the latest results from a collaboration with Dr. Svjetlana Miocinovic and Dr. Babak Mahmoudi of Emory University to investigate new methods of automating the parameter programming of DBS systems. These systems may improve the clinical treatment of those suffering from Parkinson’s Disease or Essential Tremor by dramatically easing the programming burden on clinicians, allowing patient therapy to be updated easier and with greater frequency. Congratulations to the lead author and Emory PhD student Parisa Sarikhani for all her work on getting this paper published!
Automated deep brain stimulation programming with safety constraints for tremor suppression in patients with Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor
Parisa Sarikhani, Benjamin Ferleger, Kyle Mitchell, Jill Ostrem, Jeffrey Herron, Babak Mahmoudi, Svjetlana Miocinovic
Direct Link: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-2552/ac86a2/meta
Abstract: Objective. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) programming for movement disorders requires systematic fine tuning of stimulation parameters to ameliorate tremor and other symptoms while avoiding side effects. DBS programming can be a time-consuming process and requires clinical expertise to assess response to DBS to optimize therapy for each patient. In this study, we describe and evaluate an automated, closed-loop, and patient-specific framework for DBS programming that measures tremor using a smartwatch and automatically changes DBS parameters based on the recommendations from a closed-loop optimization algorithm thus eliminating the need for an expert clinician. Approach. Bayesian optimization which is a sample-efficient global optimization method was used as the core of this DBS programming framework to adaptively learn each patient’s response to DBS and suggest the next best settings to be evaluated. Input from a clinician was used initially to define a maximum safe amplitude, but we also implemented ‘safe Bayesian optimization’ to automatically discover tolerable exploration boundaries. Main results. We tested the system in 15 patients (nine with Parkinson’s disease and six with essential tremor). Tremor suppression at best automated settings was statistically comparable to previously established clinical settings. The optimization algorithm converged after testing 
settings when maximum safe exploration boundaries were predefined, and 
when the algorithm itself determined safe exploration boundaries. Significance. We demonstrate that fully automated DBS programming framework for treatment of tremor is efficient and safe while providing outcomes comparable to that achieved by expert clinicians.
Come see our work with the CorTec Brain Interchange system at the Annual Brain Initiative Investigator’s Meeting
This coming week I’ll be presenting at the annual Brain Initiative Investigator’s Meeting our team’s ongoing development of a gRPC-enabled “OMNI” microservice developed for use with the CorTec Brain Interchange device. OMNI is an integration framework proposed by the Open Mind consortium that addresses weaknesses of current adaptive neuromodulation research tools by enhancing platform interoperability, enabling application programming language agnosticism, and sandboxing critical code from UI exceptions to improve robustness. Swing by our poster to learn more, and feel free to come chat with us during the first poster session on June 21st!
Preliminary Virtual Reality and intracranial EEG recording experiences to be presented at the upcoming IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference in Glasgow
Gridlab PhD student Courtnie Paschall will be presenting our latest work in the virtual-reality BCI space at the upcoming IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference in Glasgow July 11th-15th! Come see her oral presentation on July 14th 8:45-9:00, Paper ThAT12.2.
C. Paschall, R. Rao, J. Hauptman, J. Ojemann, J. Herron, “An Immersive Virtual Reality Platform Integrating Human ECOG & sEEG: Implementation & Noise Analysis.” accepted to the 44th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC ’22), Glasgow, UK, July 2022.
Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) offers a robust platform for human behavioral neuroscience, granting unprecedented experimental control over every aspect of an immersive and interactive visual environment. VR experiments have already integrated non-invasive neural recording modalities such as EEG and functional MRI to explore the neural correlates of human behavior and cognition. Integration with implanted electrodes would enable significant increase in spatial and temporal resolution of recorded neural signals and the option of direct brain stimulation for neurofeedback. In this paper, we discuss the first such implementation of a VR platform with implanted electrocorticography (ECoG) and stereo-electroencephalography (sEEG) electrodes in human, in-patient subjects. Noise analyses were performed to evaluate the effect of the VR headset on neural data collected in two VR-naïve subjects, one child and one adult, including both ECOG and sEEG electrodes. Results demonstrate an increase in line noise power (57-63Hz) while wearing the VR headset that is mitigated effectively by common average referencing (CAR), and no significant change in the noise floor bandpower (125-240Hz). To our knowledge, this study represents first demonstrations of VR immersion during invasive neural recording with in-patient human subjects.
Announcing the new NIH-funded Motor Recovery through Plasticity-Inducing Cortical Stimulation study
I’m happy to announce that our team is starting a new NIH-funded project investigating new methods for enhancing stroke rehabilitation outcomes. The project will be making use of the CorTec Brain Interchange system (more info here) to deliver stimulation to aid in functional recovery. I will be leading the engineering efforts by design and developing the integrated research system we will use in this protocol alongside my ECE PhD student Hanbin Cho. More information about the project has been posted on the UW Department of Neurological Surgery website.
Intracranial EEG during Immersive Virtual Reality detailed in latest TechRxiv pre-print!
Bioengineering PhD and MD student Courtnie Paschall recently posted her latest work in pioneering the use of virtual reality as a brain-computer interface research platform during invasive epilepsy monitoring on TechRxiv. See her latest work here.
Presenting an IEEE Brain Webinar on Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation
As part of the IEEE Brain Webinar Series I presented a talk on entitled “Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation: Investigational System Development at the Edge of Clinical Brain Computer Interfacing” providing an overview on the development and latest research in the field of adaptive DBS.
The talk is freely available for the next month here, the talk abstract is below:
Over the last few decades, the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) to improve the treatment of those with neurological movement disorders represents a critical success story in the development of invasive neurotechnology and the promise of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) to improve the lives of those suffering from incurable neurological disorders. In the last decade, investigational devices capable of recording and streaming neural activity from chronically implanted therapeutic electrodes has supercharged research into clinical applications of BCI, enabling in-human studies investigating the use of adaptive stimulation algorithms to further enhance therapeutic outcomes and improve future device performance. In this talk, Dr. Herron will review ongoing clinical research efforts in the field of adaptive DBS systems and algorithms. This will include an overview of DBS in current clinical practice, the development of bidirectional clinical-use research platforms, ongoing algorithm evaluation efforts, a discussion of current adoption barriers to be addressed in future work.
Open-Access publication detailing the development of closed-loop DBS systems for Essential Tremor at UW published on Frontiers
An open-access review of the entirety of the UW Activa PC+S effort to develop adaptive neuromodulation algorithms to improve the treatment of Essential Tremor has been published in Frontiers in Neuroscience. The full paper is viewable here: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.749705
Congratulations to all of the students who have worked on this project over the last seven years!
Student research being presented at Society for Neuroscience 2021
We will be presenting three ongoing research project updates at the 2021 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting this coming November 8-11! Students recorded their presentations and will be available for questions, check their out their work!
“Using multiple evoked and functional network metrics to measure and interpret cortical connectivity patterns in humans”, by Lila Levinson, S. Sun, C. J. Paschall, A. Ko, J. Herron, K. Weaver, S. Perlmutter, J. Ojemann
“A model of electrical stimulation of a cortex-like phase-oscillator sheet” by Tomek Fraczek, M. Willy, Y. Lin, B. Fletcher, H. Chizeck, J. Herron, E. Shea-Brown
“Orientation and Amplitude of Directional Deep Brain Stimulation Impact Evoked Potentials at Contralateral Sensorimotor Cortex”, by Courtnie Paschall, L. Levinson, S. Sun, J. Ojemann, A. Ko, J. Herron
Upcoming papers being presented at the 43rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society!
At the upcoming EMBC 2021 we’re excited to present our latest research results from the fields of BCI and DBS. Congratulations to all students involved for getting their hard work published! Stay tuned for final paper links but this year we’ll be presenting two papers:
“Robustness of Beta Desynchronization from Chronically Implanted Cortical Electrodes on Multiple Time Scales” by Tomek Fraczek, Andrew Ko, Howard Chizeck, and Jeffrey Herron. Available here: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9629927
“A Platform for Virtual Reality Task Design with Intracranial Electrodes” by Co-first authors Maurice Montag and Courtnie Paschall, along with Jeff Ojemann, Rajesh Rao, and Jeffrey Herron. Available here: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9630231