Research Stay of Mevlüt Yalaz

For my research stay abroad, I visited the laboratory of Prof. Cameron McIntyre at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland (OH). The lab is integrating functional imaging, neurophysiology, neuroanatomy and detailed computational models to improve the understanding of the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and to better engineer the next generation of DBS technology. By the way, the McIntyre lab invented the popular GUIDE DBS clinical programming system that has CE Mark approval in Europe.

For two months, I have been working mainly on more realistic volume conduction models for our used phantoms and on a more accurate forward solution that determines how the source within the brain is visible on the magnetic sensors. In addition, I have supported the members of the lab with programming, modelling, simulating, and general research questions. The close collaboration in the lab showed me again how important it is to achieve new results in a short period and to develop new ideas.

I would like to thank Prof. McIntyre for the opportunity to work in his laboratory and to gain a lot of experience around DBS. Additionally, I would like to thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for funding this research stay as part of the CRC 1261.

Mevlüt Yalaz