Upgrades Aim to Improve Deep Brain Stimulation

Doctors use deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat people with essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease, and other conditions.

A research team at the Center for Neurotechnology at the University of Washington, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, is working to improve the technology.

Along with enhanced brain sensors, new control algorithms, and machine learning techniques to improve device performance, the team is ensuring the design meets the day-to-day usability needs of patients.

Here, patient Fred Foy and a team of researchers explain what its like to have a brain implant and how it works to help Fred cope with his tremors:

A grant from the National Science Foundation and the NSF Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (now the Center for Neurotechnology) supported this research.