#10: Cameron McIntyre – Pushing the frontier of biophysically plausible DBS models

Stimulating Brains

Cameron McIntyre and I talk about biophysically plausible deep brain stimulation models that his laboratory has established and continues to refine since about 20 years. Cameron shares insights from a time where DBS modeling was not a thing – how his career choice to step into the realms of medical hospitals as a biomedical engineer had been risky or at least unusual at the time. We learn why the VTA model was originally a step backwards and why there is a large difference between inventions & prototypes vs. commercially useable products with direct clinical impact. Cameron shares his insight on why DBS modeling for movement disorders and for neuropsychiatric diseases are currently asking very different levels of questions. We touch upon amazing recent inventions by the McIntyre lab – such as the holographic basal ganglia pathway atlas and the HoloDBS system to plan surgeries – collaboratively and remotely from different living rooms throughout the United States.