Project Overview

Brain stimulation involves using electrical or magnetic pulses to treat medical disorders like Parkinson’s by sending controlled pulses to the brain in order to manage patient symptoms. Even though brain stimulation has been quite successful and is widely accepted, there are still important things that remain unknown. One of the big questions is figuring out which parts of the brain should be targeted when sending pulses. A symptom in Parkinson’s patients includes a sudden and temporary inability to move the legs when trying to walk. The goal is to identify brain regions responsible for these types of movement difficulties experienced by individuals with Parkinson’s disease. The aim is to check how stable certain parts of the brain are and understand how some areas in the brain can sometimes behave in unpredictable or chaotic ways. The technique being developed enables observation of the responses of various brain regions when subjected to disruptions, allowing identification of the regions that demonstrate higher sensitivity. Furthermore, this technique has the potential to predict the occurrence of walking freeze by monitoring the reactions of brain regions to disturbances even before symptoms show up. Additionally, it helps enhance understanding of the interaction between different brain regions in the development of this symptom. This technique will be tested on brainwave data recorded from 19 Parkinson’s patients (14 men and 5 women, with an average age of 66.8 years).

Principal Investigator

Nooshin Bahador , University Health Network

Partners and Donors

Mireille and Murray Steinberg Family Foundation

The Growling Beaver Brevet