Dr. Joram van Rheede is a Senior Postdoctoral Neuroengineer in the Bioelectronics Lab at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, University of Oxford. His current research focuses on the interaction between sleep/wake cycles, circadian rhythms, and neurological conditions using data from patients with brain stimulation devices.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a therapy proven to be effective for the management of symptoms of movement disorders such as epilepsy, and is under investigation for other conditions including chronic pain, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. DBS therapy settings are generally set during the clinician working day, and then applied 24/7. But how does DBS interact with sleep and circadian rhythms? Using long-term brain activity recordings from implanted DBS devices in patients with major depressive disorder, as well as examples from Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy, Dr. Van Rheede will illustrate the need for DBS to take sleep into account.

Joram will also report on progress made in the Oxford Translational Bioelectronics lab towards a sleep-aware DBS device. As DBS continues to be a critical therapy in neurological conditions, understanding its interaction with sleep and circadian rhythms is essential for optimizing treatment outcomes and developing more effective, sleep-aware DBS devices.