"Improving Intraoperative Brain Mapping Through Neurochemical Sensing"
Daryl Kipke, PhD and Parag Patil, MD, PhD
2009 funding: $100,000
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) devices - 'brain pacemakers' - have emerged as a revolutionary new approach to the treatment of neurological disorders. Accurate targeting of deep brain regions is necessary to obtain an optimal treatment of DBS with minimal risk to the patient. Functional mapping in deep brain surgery involves penetrating the computed target structures with movable microelectrodes to identify the neuronal structure boundaries. At present, the microelectrode senses only neuronal electrical activity in the small region surrounding the electrode tip with inherent limitations in spatial resolution and specificity that often lead to uncertainties and delays in identifying structural boundaries. There is an unmet need to improve the spatial resolution, specificity, and speed of functional deep brain mapping.
CNNMoney.com named Ann Marie Sastry, professor of mechanical, biomedical and materials science engineering, as one of seven innovators helping to bring jobs to the Detroit area. She is CEO of a company working to develop advanced lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. Click the link to read the full article.
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University of Michigan Department of Biomedical Engineering sponsored student organization M-Heal (Michigan Health Engineered for All Lives) is featured by U-M's YouTube channel and was showcased on The Big Ten Network for their work on "Inventory Day." The video "Out Of The Blue Episode 5 - M Heal" explains how this fledgling student organization undertook a huge project with superb results. Congratulations M-Heal and keep up the good work.
Coulter Translational