More Rational Therapies
The future of seizure treatment—and perhaps the treatment of brain and behavioral disorders in general— belongs to electrical-stimulation therapies, believes Schiff.
This stimulation is delivered by means of a thumbnail-sized computer chip—akin to a pacemaker for the brain—that sends tiny jolts of electrical current applied to specific neural targets. The goal? To block abnormal electrical patterns and stop the symptoms of disease—seizures, spasticity, tremors—before they happen.
Credit Frederic Weber
The procedure, called deep brain stimulation or DBS, involves surgically implanting electrodes into targeted areas of the patient’s brain, along with a small battery. To date, almost 40,000 Parkinson’s patients have undergone DBS surgery, with mixed results. While many patients experience a welcome reduction of their tremors and rigidity, there are side effects for some, including involuntary movements, insomnia, anxiety and depression. Says Schiff, there’s still too much trial and error in choosing and calibrating the pattern and amplitude of the implants’ electrical signals, and that ultimately limits the treatment’s success in reducing a broader range of the disease’s symptoms.
"What we’re striving for in the Center," he adds emphatically, "is the development of more rational ways of interacting with the brain electrically."
A Productive Partnership
Bruce Gluckman emphatically agrees. Associate professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics and of Neurosurgery, Gluckman has been Schiff’s primary research partner for over fifteen years.
Together, these two scientists—each with different and complementary strengths—are intent on the same goals: to find more sensitive, precise and individualized strategies to monitor brain activity and suppress seizures before they strike, and to shape the Center into a pioneering player in the growing field of neural engineering.
Gluckman, casual and outgoing, is essentially a physicist and self-described experimentalist. His primary expertise is in "the group dynamics of individual systems," with an emphasis on the interaction between theoretical ideas and experimental results, and how to apply what is learned directly to models of neural systems.
"My role in the Center is more in day-to-day operations in the lab, where I’m focused on instrument development," he adds.
The instrument in question is the Center’s main—though by no means only—focus: a prototype of the next generation of human brain implant device, based on neurological research on the brains of rats. "I think we’re about five years away from a new epilepsy implant and we’re working on one for Parkinson’s as well," Gluckman says with obvious excitement. "We just have to make sure we can get the bugs worked out first."
Schiff—soft-spoken and intense—is clinically oriented in his research approach, says Gluckman, referring to his partner’s drive to address health-related questions, but he adds that Schiff is excellent at building the interdisciplinary bridges both within the Center and between the Center and a diverse network of scientists around the world.
"By combining our skills, I think we’ve been able to do some very unique things," Schiff says, "with the emphasis always coming back to finding better solutions for people suffering with brain disorders."
