Speaker Profile

Executive Summary：
Dr Antonella Macerollo is a Consultant Neurologist at the Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool, UK with a clinical interest in movement disorders and related advanced therapies such as Deep Brain Stimulation and MRI guided focused ultrasound.
She is senior clinical lecturer at the University of Liverpool as well as at the Manchester Metropolitan University.
Her current research is focused on the development of neuroimaging biomarkers for early diagnosis and predictive outcome of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and tremor. Moreover, new area of her research is MRI guided focus ultrasound for tremor patients. She is also developing a study to improve the equality access to functional neurosurgery for patients with movement disorders.

Lecture Abstract：

Executive Summary：
Dr. Lee joined the staff at the Mayo Clinic in 2006 and holds the academic rank of Professor of Neurosurgery and Biomedical Engineering. He also founded the Neural Engineering Laboratories and is currently a Director at the Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Lee earned his B.A. in Biology with a minor in Philosophy (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Colorado at Denver. He attended Yale University Graduate School, where he received his Master of Philosophy, M.D. (Cum Laude), and Ph.D. in Neurobiology. He completed his residency in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and further trained at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where he completed an internship in General Surgery, as well as a residency and chief residency in Neurosurgery.
In his clinical practice, Dr. Lee is an expert in neurological disorders, treating patients with Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, dystonia, and other neurodegenerative diseases. His research focuses on developing deep brain stimulation for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, tremor, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and epilepsy. Dr. Lee entered this field after visualizing a surprising surge of dopamine in a rat brain, which inspired decades of study on human brain signals, including dopamine.
Dr. Lee is passionate about the potential to combine sophisticated electrophysiological and electrochemical recordings with miniaturized analytical elements (microprocessors) to augment or repair disrupted brain function. His team was awarded the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Team Science Award in 2015.

Lecture Abstract：
Closed-loop deep brain stimulation (DBS) represents a significant advancement in neuromodulation, enabling real-time adaptation to neural activity. In this talk, I will discuss the development of an electrochemical closed-loop DBS system that dynamically adjusts stimulation parameters based on real-time neurotransmitter levels, such as dopamine. By integrating electrochemical sensing with adaptive control algorithms, this system aims to optimize therapeutic outcomes for neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. Our findings highlight the potential of electrochemical closed-loop DBS to enhance efficacy and reduce side effects by tailoring stimulation to individual neurochemical profiles.

Executive Summary：
Dr. Yi-Jen Guo graduated from the School of Medicine at Chung Shan Medical University and completed her neurological residency at Taichung Veterans General Hospital (VGHTC). In 2018, she trained in DBS programming at the Movement Disorders Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire of Grenoble, France, as a visiting doctor. From September 2022 to August 2023, she conducted research on STN DBS local field potential analysis at the Human Motor Control and Neuromodulation Laboratory, Stanford University, USA, as a visiting scholar.

Dr. Guo is currently the Director of the Center for Parkinson's and Movement Disorders at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. Her primary academic interests include olfactory function in Parkinson’s disease, neuroimaging in movement disorders, and electrophysiological analysis of STN DBS in Parkinson’s disease.

Lecture Abstract：
Walking is a multidimensional activity governed by both voluntary and automatic mechanisms, involving a variety of neural circuits, including the basal ganglia and cerebellum. Freezing of gait (FOG) is a disabling symptom in advanced Parkinson's disease (PD), and its mechanisms and treatment remain significant challenges.
Evidence suggests that STN-DBS enhances trunk and leg vertical alignment and induces a greater backward and lateral displacement of the center of pressure, thereby improving muscle synergies during and before gait initiation. More than half of PD patients experience improvements in gait function and postural instability within the first year after DBS surgery. However, stimulation-resistant gait abnormalities and freezing can occur in the long term following STN-DBS therapy. Some studies have reported that STN-DBS may exacerbate postural instability and FOG in PD patients.
In recent years, different DBS targets, including the subthalamic nucleus (STN), substantia nigra (SNr), and pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), have been investigated for treating PD-related gait dysfunction. Comparisons of programming strategies have shown that low-frequency stimulation (LFS) is superior to high-frequency stimulation (HFS) for short-term improvement of FOG. Close-loop STN local field potential analysis has revealed that patients with FOG (freezers) exhibit increased beta burst duration and power during gait compared to non-freezers. Beta burst-driven adaptive DBS has shown promise in improving gait function and FOG in PD patients.
With advancements in wearable sensor technology, brain sensing equipment, and imaging data analysis, it may become possible to develop optimal DBS stimulation strategies tailored to the individual for treating PD-related FOG.