Elkholy, Emir. Novel neurochip design implementing ALOPEX for use in an automated deep brain stimulation system for Parkinson’s patients. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3BG2NCK
DescriptionIn order to counteract the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease, Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is used. However, due to the invasive nature of the procedure associated with DBS, there is a need for a system that can autonomously and reliably
adjust itself based on the progression of the disease. The purpose of the neurochip in this system will be to autonomously counteract the abnormal brain behavior that causes tremors in Parkinson’s patients by sensing and stimulating portions of the brain over an
extended period of time. Using the optimization technique ALOPEX developed in the Computational Intelligence Laboratory at Rutgers Biomedical Engineering, the developed hardware is able to reduce the unpleasant tremor and offer the subjects a
much-improved quality of life. The promise of such research can lead to a device that would reduce the need for visits to doctors for parameter adjustment purposes. The approach of the research was to first enter recorded Parkinsonian brain activity in software, and develop the complete algorithm used to counteract the tremor. From this phase, the software is implemented using microcontrollers where it is tested for robustness in the laboratory. The final stage of research lays the groundwork for VLSI design of the device that can be fabricated. In theory, it has been shown that ALOPEX can successfully adapt the stimulation parameters in DBS in order to maintain the optimal condition for the patient. Clinical testing on animals/humans will need to be done in order
to verify these results.