Using computer simulations for predicting interventions restoring healthy patterns of neural activity

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In many neurological disorders, the neurons change how they respond. For example, in Parkinson’s disease, the neurons in brain regions involved in initiation of movements start to produce oscillations in their activity. These oscillations make transmission of information more difficult and some of them are causing shaking of hands. One treatment for Parkinson’s disease involves electrical stimulation of the brain through implanted electrodes. The research in our unit aims in refining treatments like this one by making the stimulation dependent of the ongoing pattern of neural activity. The aim of this research programme is to use computer simulations to investigate how and when (in relation to ongoing activity) to provide the electrical stimulation to minimize the symptoms of the disease. Through simulations and analyses of mathematical models of brain networks, we will suggest ways of stimulations, which will be subsequently tested. We hope that the developed methods could be also applied to other neurological disorders.