Martijn Beudel

My research focuses on the optimization of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in movement disorders. 

Medical treatment of movement disorders is usually not curative and often not sufficient. This makes movement disorders one of the diseases with the highest disease burden.  DBS is nowadays a registered treatment for Parkinson’s disease, tremor and dystonia. Although DBS can significantly reduce symptoms its full potential is not elucidated. By learning more about the disturbed motor networks in subcortical structures (the actual target of DBS), better stimulation parameters could be developed. DBS operations provide the unique opportunity to look at subcortical electrical signals. By correlating these subcortical signals with clinical characteristics pre- and post-surgery, more accurate and adaptive stimulation algorithms could be developed. These algorithms are especially useful for future DBS systems which can stimulate at multiple contacts and can stimulate selectively when pathological oscillations are present. These “tailored” algorithms can reduce side effects, increase effectiveness and reduce battery life. This will make DBS a more applicable and  accessible treatment option for a large group of patients.