March 11, 2026

@michaelokun

Adaptive DBS and the future of walking: Proceedings is out from the XIII annual DBS Think Tank. Adaptive DBS refers to a form of deep brain stimulation where the device senses brain signals and automatically adjusts stimulation in real time, instead of delivering constant stimulation. Chance Fleeting and colleagues just dropped a new paper in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience summarizing the 13th Annual DBS Think Tank held at the Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at the University of Florida. The meeting gathered engineers, neuroscientists, industry partners and health care providers to discuss the evolving landscape of DBS, including adaptive stimulation for walking and more broad brain network therapies. Key points on the 'walking work:' - Adaptive DBS synchronized to the walking cycle (Doris Wang lab at UCSF) can adjust stimulation during specific phases of gait and has shown improvements in symmetry, variability and fall reduction in Parkinson’s disease. - Neural signals from the subthalamic nucleus and other brain regions can decode mobility states such as sitting, standing and walking, allowing stimulation to switch automatically to gait optimized settings. - Modern DBS is shifting from targeting a single brain location to targeting distributed brain networks and to using biomarkers to determine where, when and in whom stimulation should occur. My take: The DBS field is rapidly moving toward smarter stimulation. Instead of delivering the same signal continuously, next generation systems can sense brain activity, recognize behavior and adjust therapy dynamically. This shift toward adaptive and network guided stimulation may one day help to address some of the most stubborn Parkinson’s symptoms such as gait freezing and falls. Please read and decide on your own as I am biased as a co-author and participant in the meeting. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2026.1770451/full #michaelokun #fixelinstitute #parkinson #dbs