US-German Research Proposal: Collaborative Research: Optimization of Human Cortical Stimulation

大脑表面的电刺激被用来绘制功能图，比如手部运动。这种刺激对大脑研究和病人护理都至关重要。需要更好的方法来精确地引导大脑表面的电流。精确的刺激有助于神经损伤后恢复损伤的研究。来自大脑表面的刺激和记录也被用于研究记忆和注意力过程。神经假肢的发展研究以及大脑如何与大脑控制设备相互作用的研究也可能受益于更精确的刺激。这个项目使用先进的计算机模型来确定更好的刺激大脑的方法。人们可以根据这些模型预测刺激的走向。将测试使用这些模型是否能精确地引导刺激针对特定的大脑功能。这个美德合作项目结合了来自华盛顿大学（PI: J. Ojemann，神经外科）、东北大学（D. Brooks，电子工程）、犹他大学（R. McLeod，综合生物医学计算中心）和德国弗莱堡大学（T. Ball，计算神经科学和神经技术）的专业知识。西北大学和犹他大学开发的优化方案可以预测当前产出量的分布，该方案将在绵羊模型中进行验证，随后用于预测人类数据中的当前产出量。例如，大脑表面复杂的几何形状（皮质电图）电极可能会给出不同的电流模式。通过同时刺激和记录皮层表面的数据（在绵羊或人类大脑中），可以评估模型和优化算法。成功的“电流控制”方法将适用于神经科学的广泛研究和患者护理应用。德国教育和研究部（BMBF）正在资助一个伙伴项目。

Electrical stimulation of the surface of the brain is used to map functions, such as hand movement. This stimulation is vital for both brain research and patient care. Better methods are needed to precisely direct the electrical current on the brain surface. Precise stimulation will help research in restoring damage after neurological injury. Stimulation and recording from the brain surface have also been used to study memory and attention processes. Research in the development of neuro-prosthetics and the study of how the brain interacts with brain-controlled devices may also benefit from more precise stimulation. This project uses advanced computer modeling to determine better ways of stimulating the brain. One can predict where the stimulation will go based on these models. It will be tested whether using these models can precisely steer the stimulation to target specific brain functions.This US-German collaborative project combines expertise from the University of Washington (PI: J. Ojemann, Neurosurgery), Northeastern University (D. Brooks, Electrical Engineering), the University of Utah (R. McLeod, Center for Integrative Biomedical Computing) and, in Germany, the University of Freiburg (T. Ball, Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology). The optimization protocols developed at Northwestern and Utah can predict the distribution of current delivery, which will be validated in a sheep model and subsequently used to predict current delivery in human data. For instance, complex geometries of brain surface (electrocorticography) electrodes may give varying patterns of current across the brain. By using simultaneous stimulation and recording data from the cortical surface (in either sheep or human brain in vivo), the model and optimization algorithms can be assessed. Successful methods for "current steering" would be applicable across a broad range of research and patient care applications in neuroscience.A companion project is being funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).