In the world of nanotechnology, smaller is better. So if an electrode that\u2019s a millimeter in height by a millimeter in diameter is good, then one that is 20 by 50 microns\u2014or one-fiftieth of a millimeter by one-twentieth of a millimeter\u2014is even better. Indeed, that\u2019s the size of a wireless electrode developed through a collaboration between NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center and the Mayo Clinic, a project in which Dartmouth medical alumnus Russell Andrews (MED \u201978)\u2014a neurosurgeon who has been an Ames advisor for 20 years\u2014played an integral part. Although the technology may eventually have multiple applications, the initial concept was a tool for improved deep brain stimulation to treat symptoms of Parkinson\u2019s disease, including tremors and slow movements.<\/p>\n
Movement disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s disease have been treated quite successfully by carefully placing electrodes in the brain, explains Andrews, who practices in Los Gatos, California, in addition to collaborating on research with NASA Ames and others.<\/p>\n
Andrews has always been interested in the brain. When he first enrolled in medical school at Dartmouth, he intended to pursue neurology. However, he was inspired to become a neurosurgeon when as a first-year medical student, he \u201cwatched Dr. Donald Wilson save a toddler with a traumatic epidural hematoma\u2014converting an almost certainly fatal situation into a joyous event for all concerned,\u201d Andrews recalls.\u00a0 Later, he collaborated with Dr. Peter Spiegel, also on Dartmouth\u2019s faculty, on a research project reviewing the clinical characteristics of patients with cerebral aneurysms, an experience that fueled his interest in research, too.<\/p>\n
Andrews\u2019 recent project with nanoelectrodes was inspired by another research team at NASA Ames that had developed nanoelectrodes that were ten times more sensitive than standard electrodes in measuring dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that\u2019s essential to the functioning of the central nervous system. Andrews instantly saw a potential application in Parkinson\u2019s disease, which results from damage to dopamine-producing brain cells in the basal ganglia.<\/p>\n
So with a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Andrews and colleagues at NASA Ames began developing nanoelectrodes expressly to monitor both dopamine and brain electrical activity, as well as stimulate the brain more precisely than was possible with standard electrodes. About the same time, researchers at the Mayo Clinic published information about a wireless system for monitoring neurotransmitters in human beings.<\/p>\n
In 2011, the NASA Ames and Mayo teams came together with a five-year, nearly $2 million NIH grant that enabled them to develop a nanoelectrode that operates on a wireless Bluetooth system. Andrews says the nanoelectrode will improve doctors\u2019 and researchers\u2019 ability to monitor both electrical and chemical activity in the brain, and also improve the precision of deep brain stimulation.<\/p>\n
Now that the NIH grant has ended, Andrews and his NASA Ames colleagues are continuing to develop nanotechniques to understand the basic electrochemistry of brain functioning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe brain is an elegant structure, with billions of cells\u2014neurons and glia\u2014communicating electrically and chemically at the cellular or micron level,\u201d says Andrews. \u201cBy understanding the brain electrochemically, we are much more likely to be able to coax the disordered brain\u2014whether it\u2019s Parkinson\u2019s disease, epilepsy, or depression\u2014back to healthy functioning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Author: Sarah Zobel<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dartmouth medical alumnus Russell Andrews (MED \u201978)\u2014a neurosurgeon in California\u2014has been part of a collaboration between NASA and the Mayo Clinic to develop a new wireless nanoelectrode that could help people with Parkinson’s disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":8273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[17,29,836,320],"class_list":["post-8272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-alumni-2","tag-neuroscience","tag-parkinsons-disease","tag-research-2","post_format-post-format-aside","author-15"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/05\/brain-stim-shutterstock_167928044.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4r3h1-29q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8272"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8276,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8272\/revisions\/8276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}