# Optimizing Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease.

> **NIH NIH P20** · BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $161,346

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY - JOHNSON
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a promising FDA-approved therapeutic for advanced Parkinson’s disease
(PD), a disease that increases with age, affecting 1% of the population over the age of 60 and 10% of the
population over the age of 80. There is a critical need to automate DBS parameter selection for optimal therapy
and greatly reduce clinician burden. Clinical DBS, however, creates long-lasting stimulation artifacts that
obscure and distort the detection of neural biomarkers that could be used to automate therapy. This study will
address this challenge by making innovative advancements to our closed-loop neuromodulation technology
called WAND (wireless artifact-free neuromodulation device) that can reliably sense neural signals with
concurrent electrical stimulation. Our long-term goal is to develop a miniaturized DBS device that closes the
loop by sensing biomarkers and computing stimulation parameters for automatic, patient-specific treatment.
Our overall objective is to adapt WAND for rodent studies and use a machine learning search strategy to find
the best stimulation settings based on biomarkers in a rodent model of PD. Closed-loop DBS, enabled by
WAND and by a machine-learning based parameter optimization, can produce longer-lasting and more energy-
efficient motor rescue as compared to standard DBS therapy. The central hypothesis will be tested pursuing
three specific aims: 1) Optimize WAND for rodent studies to create a next-generation research platform; 2)
Validate WAND’s ability to extract neural biomarkers during DBS therapy and gait analysis in a rat model of
PD; and 3) Design and evaluate an optimization system to dynamically control neural biomarkers in a rat
model of PD. This work is significant because it will make substantive advancements to a next-generation
neurotechnology research platform (WAND). This smaller device will be more automated because of our
emphasis on the critical technical challenge of improving patient-specific DBS parameter selection. Outcomes
not only advance PD research and clinical outcomes, but we can also extend knowledge given that DBS has
shown promise as a treatment for many other neurological disorders, including epilepsy, depression, and
memory impairment. Further, the effort is well-suited to this COBRE as it addresses the Biomedical Devices,
Sensors, and Systems theme.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10557617
- **Project number:** 1P20GM148321-01
- **Recipient organization:** BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Benjamin Johnson
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $161,346
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-04-06 → 2028-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10557617

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10557617, Optimizing Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease. (1P20GM148321-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10557617. Licensed CC0.

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