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Helius Medical's Kim Skininer on neuroplasticity with a wearable device

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

Release Date: 09/05/2023

Mounya Elhilali on her auditory processing selectivity research show art Mounya Elhilali on her auditory processing selectivity research

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

did the keynote talk at the . I was able to sit down with her and talk to learn more about her auditory processing selectivity research. Top 3 Takeaways:  Nurses especially can get used to beeping and alarms which can be dangerous for patients. "Under anesthesia, you see some basic responses, but they are different than when you engage the, let's say, an animal in an awake state, and then when they are awake and actually behaving and engaging with the system" Audio recordings can be tuned to remove ambient noise but they need to be perfectly calibrated to distances between microphones. ...

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Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

Suraj Mudichintala is a Senior Associate at Action Potential Capital which is GSK's bioelectronic medicine venture fund. Top 3 Takeaways: "Our fund is different in that we invest actually directly off of GSK's balance sheet. So we're what's called an evergreen fund where we don't actually have a fund size" "The way that I think about it is that a VC is really paid to allocate capital but really is really paid to think. You really have to think about what is the next space or the next technology that could disrupt a space? And because of that, it's a much you often have to take a much more...

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Balint Varkuti on turning neuromodulation technologies into Brain-Computer-Interfaces using software by CereGate show art Balint Varkuti on turning neuromodulation technologies into Brain-Computer-Interfaces using software by CereGate

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

Balint Varkuti is the CEO of CereGate which unlocks new capabilities for existing neuromodulation technologies using software. Top 3 Takeaways: "the brain is naturally wired for pattern perception for learning, and that's really what we do. We send signals that the brain very quickly can pick up." "You do not need to exclusively be focused mentally, consciously on interpreting these signals. Rather it becomes second nature. Our favourite analogy is saying it is like braille for the brain." "With hardware, you sometimes have simply the disadvantage that you are married to the time point when...

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Kevin Tracey returns to the podcast to give an update about his work at the Feinstein Institutes, the field of bioelectronic medicine and exciting vagus nerve clinical trials underway show art Kevin Tracey returns to the podcast to give an update about his work at the Feinstein Institutes, the field of bioelectronic medicine and exciting vagus nerve clinical trials underway

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

returns to the podcast to give an update about his work at the and the work at . Top 3 Takeaways: "Two years we discovered that a drug called Famotidine, which is sold as a generic drug Pepcid AC is actually a pharmacological or a drug-based vagus nerve stimulator. And we proved first in mice that famotidine placed directly in very small amounts placed directly in the brains of mice activates the vagus nerve. And this in turn turned off cytokine storm, which of course is a big problem in Covid 19" "A company that I've co-founded, Setpoint Medical, is currently deep into clinical trials in...

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Israel Gasperin on measuring cannabis effects quanitatively with EEG with Zentrela show art Israel Gasperin on measuring cannabis effects quanitatively with EEG with Zentrela

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

is the founder and CEO of which uses wearable EEG caps to quantitatively measure cannabis experiences. Top 3 Takeaways: "The reason why the government funded us was to use this for safety and law enforcement" "The combination of features that AI is finding is something that we haven't really focused on studying and trying to understand. It's a black box today that, is accurately and objectively characterizing the  psychoactive effects, but we don't exactly know what they mean." "Based on this neuroscience-driven research proving the onset time of the beverage, within two weeks [the...

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Colin Kealey on the non-pharmaceutical adolescent ADHD treatment with NeuroSIgma show art Colin Kealey on the non-pharmaceutical adolescent ADHD treatment with NeuroSIgma

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

is the President and CEO of which is commercializing the Monarch eTNS System, the first non-drug treatment for pediatric ADHD cleared by the FDA.  Top 3 Takeaways: NeuroSigma is commercializing the Monarch eTNS system, a wearable medical device that stimulates the trigeminal nerve on the forehead, as a treatment for neurologic and neuropsychiatric indications. The Monarch eTNS System is FDA cleared as a treatment for pediatric ADHD, ages 7 – 12. Clinical trials in this population show a response rate of 50% with a only mild side effects observed in clinical trials to date. NeuroSigma...

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Craig Mermel on working at Google and Apple and now at Precision Neuroscience show art Craig Mermel on working at Google and Apple and now at Precision Neuroscience

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

is the President and Chief Product Officer at which is a company looking to commercialize Brain-Computer Interfaces using a minimally implantation method and a soft electrode device. ***This podcast is sponsored by Iris Biomedical, check out their Neurotech Startup Services Top 3 Takeaways "The combination of both the nature of our thin film and the surgical innovations that we bring enables us to bring cortical surface neurotechnology to patients in a minimally invasive fashion." "Having 10 times the amount of money at an early stage before you actually solve some of the key problems can...

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Lothar Krinke on adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation at Newronika show art Lothar Krinke on adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation at Newronika

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

Lothar Krinke is the CEO and Board Member of Newronika which is an adaptive Deep Brain Stimulator company looking to improve patient outcomes in things like Parkinson's and Essential Tremor. ***This podcast is sponsored by Iris Biomedical, check out their Neurotech Startup Services Top 3 Takeaways: "the one thing we do need to address is really the cost. The cost driver of Deep Brain Stimulation isn't the manufacturing of the system. Now, that's not cheap either it's certainly less than $10,000. How expensive is brain surgery, particularly functional brain surgery? How expensive is it to...

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Damiano G. Barone on being a neurosurgeon and improving patient quality of life through surgery show art Damiano G. Barone on being a neurosurgeon and improving patient quality of life through surgery

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

 is a neurosurgery clinical lecturer at the University of Cambridge and fellow at The Walton Centre in Liverpool, UK. He is interested in tackling basic and translational challenges for the development of the next generation of neural bioelectronics. ***This podcast is sponsored by Ripple Neuro, check out their Neuroscience Research Tools  Top 3 Takeaways: "My favorite procedure is the procedure that works and you see the patient after that is is a changed patient."  "You come out from medical school like age 23 or 24. Then you get to a general medical program which in the...

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Jon Sakai on interacting with your target patients and the neural sleeve made by Cionic show art Jon Sakai on interacting with your target patients and the neural sleeve made by Cionic

Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions

is the Head of Commercialization at , a wearable neurostimulator sleeve for those with neuromuscular disease ***This podcast is sponsored by Iris Biomedical, check out their Neurotech Startup Services Top 3 Takeaways: "There isn't any individualized training that needs to happen. What needs to happen is the identification of which muscle groups need support and have those turned on and programmed in intensity appropriately." "We were able to improve door sub selection and inversion in more than 90% of our participants." "There's nothing like getting an appreciation for a problem like the...

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RehabWeek Exclusive interview the Kim Skinner
Kim Skinner is the Director of Physical Therapy at Helius Medical Technologies where she is instrumental in the introduction of the PoNS rehabilitation program. Prior to this she was the Physical Therapy Director and Researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison working with sensory processing and neurological disorders. She holds a PhD in Physical Therapy and Health Sciences and maintains her license in physical therapy. We met up with Kim at RehabWeek and had a conversation about the company, the rehabilitation science of the PoNS device and where it is going in the future.

Takeaways:
Harnessing neuroplasticity in rehabilitation stimulation must be paired with an activity.
Clinical interfaces need to intuitive and easy to use for the clinician.
How is your brain today? Can we bring people to check their brain health like they check their smartphone?


[0:00] Introduction and Jen French from Neurotech Reports kicks off the conversation RehabWeek exhibit floor at Helius Medical.
[0:25] Kim Skinner introduces herself and Helius Medical and new PoNS device. She worked in the initial research for the device.
[1:12] Description of the PoNS device components, how it works and the target indications and clinical application of mild to moderate brain injury with chronic balance deficits. They designed a 14-week rehabilitation program harnessing neuroplasticity.
[4:10] Further discussion about application of the technology to other indications that have balance issues. Their initial focus is on the brain injury population, but more research needs to be done on how this can benefit other populations.
[5:18] Discussion of the design of their clinical trials and some of the challenges associated with that both in the clinical and at home. They have a training template that can be individualized for each patient.
[6:39] Skinner further describes the training protocols and when to stimulation to maximize outcomes couples with balance training and movement exercises to prime the brain.
[8:26] The stimulating device goes onto the tongue rather than skin. How does that feel or taste? She also talks about the stimulation pattern and parameters as well as
[9:53] Discussion of the 143 electrode array design and how they mapped the tongue to figure out the stimulating rate.
[12:19] The visual substitution device was the predecessor of this device and how it evolved out of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
[13:16] Skinner talks about where the PoNS device is currently available with a prescription and how they are working on availability in the US, Europe and Australia. It is currently approved in Canada through the HeuroCanada clinics.