A&S Trinity Home
Duke Home

Duke University | Howard Hughes Undergraduate Program

Of Mice and Researchers

Posted by Auriel August on 2009-06-11
4 Comments

This summer I am working in the Grill Lab which is a part of the biomedical engineering department and focuses in the area of neural engineering: using engineering techniques to understand and control neural function. The project I am working on within this lab is exploring the use of deep brain stimulation for the treatment of motor disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, Essential Tremor, and Dystonia. We test the stimulation in rat models in order to learn more about DBS as a treatment. Our project uses a direct approach with stimulation, placing electrodes directly into the central nervous system to activate the neural circuits. Here are a few pictures from around the lab:

        

Tagged: BME, Deep-Brain-Stimulation, Neural-Engineering, Parkinson's-Disease, Rats

4 comments so far

Posted by Duke wannabe on 2009-06-15
I am hoping to come to Duke for college for biomedical engineering, especially neuroengineering. I will be sure to check back so I can see how your project with Dr. Grill is going.
Posted by Blue Devil of Old on 2009-06-26
Well your research sounds interesting and promising. Keep us posted
Posted by Duke wannabe on 2009-06-28
I never realized that engineers work with live tissue as you do. I thought that was only in cell biology and physiology lab work. It makes me even more interested in Duke's engineering school.
Posted by AurielAugust on 2009-06-29
Duke wannabe- Duke's BME program has an entire department devoted to tissue engineering (which you can also concentrate in) working with the more human side of things. So here you can either be on the electrical circuit side or the tissue side!
Comments are closed.