Department of Biomedical Engineering
Mentor: Tay Netoff, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering
Project: Personalized Deep Brain Electrical Stimulation in Refractory Epilepsy Subjects using Percept PC Local Field Potential and Empatica Watch Wearable Biomarker Feedback
Zach Sanger’s research project aims to personalize deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy for subjects whose epilepsy symptoms cannot be managed by medication or surgical resection. By utilizing the Medtronic Percept device’s ability to simultaneously stimulate and record, neural response to different DBS stimulation parameters can be captured in real time in the clinic and at home. Integration of Empatica watch wearable biomarker feedback such as heart rate, sleep detection, and accelerometer data may provide rich supplemental data of subject state to utilize with neural response for assessment of therapy. We will investigate Percept recorded anterior nucleus of the thalamus local field potentials and Empatica wearable data as feasible quantitative metrics for assessing stimulation therapy and seizure event tracking and/or forecasting.
