Section: Application Domains

Medical applications

Our research directions are motivated by applications with a high healthcare or social impact. They are developed in collaboration with medical partners, neuroscientists and psychologists. Almost all of our applications can be seen as neural interfaces which require the analysis and modeling of sensorimotor rhythms.

Per-operative awareness during general anesthesia

Collaborators: Univ. Hospital of Nancy-Brabois/dept. Anesthesia & Resuscitation

During general anesthesia, brain oscillations change according to the anesthetic drug concentration. Nowadays, 0.2 to 1.3% of patients regain consciousness during surgery and suffer from post-traumatic disorders. Despite the absence of subject movements due to curare, an electroencephalographic analysis of sensorimotor rhythms can help to detect an intention of movement. Within a clinical protocol, we are working on a brain-computer interface adapted to the detection of intraoperative awareness.

Recovery after stroke

Collaborators: Regional Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation/Center for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Lay St Christophe), Univ. of Lorraine/PErSEUs.

Stroke is the main cause of acquired disability in adults. Neurosys aims at recovering limb control by improving the kinesthetic motor imagery (KMI) generation of post-stroke patients. We propose to design a KMI-based EEG neural interface which integrates complementary modalities of interactions such as tangible and haptic ones to stimulate the sensorimotor loop. This solution would provide a more engaging and compelling stroke rehabilitation training program based on KMI production.

Modeling Parkinson's disease

Collaborators: Center for Systems Biomedicine (Luxembourg), Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases (Bordeaux), Human Performance & Robotics laboratory (California State Univ., Long Beach).

Effective treatment of Parkinson's disease should be based on a realistic model of the disease. We are currently developing a neuronal model based on Hodgkin-Huxley neurons reproducing to a certain extent the pathological synchronization observed in basal ganglia in Parkinsonian rats. Moreover, our mesoscopic models of plastic Central Pattern Generator neural circuitries involved in rhythmic movements will allow us to reproduce incoherent coordination of limbs observed on humans affected by Parkinson's diseases like frozen gait, crouch gait. Our long-term objective is to understand how oscillatory activity in the basal ganglia affects motor control in spinal structures.

Modeling propagation of epileptic spikes

Collaborators: Epileptology Unit of the CHRU Nancy (University hospital), CRAN (Research Center in Automation and Signal Processing of Nancy). Effective treatment of patients with refractory epilepsy requires a better understanding of the underlying neuronal mechanisms. In particular, it has been observed that epileptic spikes propagate more easily during stage III sleep (slow wave sleep) than during wakefulness, but the origin of these behaviours still remains misunderstood. At least both, a combination of anatomical structure/connectivity changes and changes in level of neurotransmitters, namely functional connectivity, can cause the propagation. A better knowledge of the functional and structural circuitry could allow a better targetting of structures to be treated, either surgically or pharmacologically, and to better individually adapt the pharmacology to each patient according to their symptomatology.