Group Science

Our everyday actions, from decision making to motor control, are thought to involve information exchange through transient, often rhythmic, neural synchrony across multiple brain regions. Emerging evidence suggests that a range of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), essential tremor (ET), dystonia and dyskinesia could be attributed to dysfunction of this fundamental neural property. To date, the functional and pathological roles of transient neural synchrony remains unknown, a critical link that could be leveraged to identify novel ways of treating aberrant synchrony. We aim to utilize deep brain stimulation (DBS) in order to selectively and dynamically modulate synchrony in the cortico-basal ganglia loop to establish the functional role of transient synchrony, and its pathological role in PD and ET.

Tremor Circadian Dynamics in Free-Living Conditions

Non-medicated and medicated people with Parkinson’s present distinct tremor fluctuation patterns across days, which may reflect different clinical features (e.g., medication responsiveness, presence of medication OFF-state, etc). Upper panels show wrist-estimated average circadian tremor probabilities for a non-medicated (A), levodopa non-responsive (B) and levodopa responsive (C) patient, respectively. Lower panels show the corresponding mean and standard deviation of tremor probability across days while dashed lines indicate medication in-take times (Soriano et al 2024 – in submission).

Modulating Brain States

Stimulating at the right time can compensate for connectivity deficits in neurological disease by repatterning the synchronization of neural oscillations (adapted from West et al 2022).
Different motor states exhibit different properties of bursting neural activity that is under the control of inhibitory connections in the cortex (adapted from West et al 2023).
Bilateral phase-locked deep brain stimulation independently targeting the optimal suppressive phases for left- and right-hand tremor might work better in disrupting the relevant oscillatory sources, and thus more effective at suppressing pathological tremors (He et al 2024 – in submission).
Deep Brain Stimulation has a greater clinical effect in those with stronger cortico-thalamo-tremor connectivity involving the contralateral thalamus, which is also associated with more regular tremor measured with an accelerometer (He et al 2024 – in submission).

From dawn till dusk: Time-adaptive bayesian optimization for neurostimulation

In this paper we developed an optimization algorithm that incorporates knowledge of time-dependent variations to maintain neurostimulation efficacy amidst shifting physiological demands (adapted from Fleming et al 2023).

Key Research Areas

  • selective neuromodulation – modulating neural activity of interest while sparing other physiological function
  • dynamic neuromodulation – adjusting neuromodulation according to the current state of the neural system
  • mimicking nature – learning from spontaneous neural processes how to modulate neural synchrony
  • closed-loop stimulation
  • remote symptom monitoring

Longer-term Perspectives

As our knowledge on neurological and psychiatric disorders increase, we are able to leverage implantable and wearable bioelectronics to deliver adaptable and individually optimised therapies to patients. Our long term research aim is to identify and leverage critical disease mechanisms in order to deliver dynamic therapies using a combination of invasive and non-invasive technologies.

Research Techniques

  • Deep Brain Stimulation (sensing and stimulating)
  • Theoretical Modelling (single unit to population level models)
  • Neuroimaging (EEG, MEG)
  • Non-invasive Stimulation
  • Signal processing

Equality and Diversity

We are committed to fostering an inclusive work environment that celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunity within our group.