Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering
Distinguished Seminar Series
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
9:30-10:20am
MJIS 1001
This seminar will be presented virtually
Electrical Conduction Block of Neural Activity
Warren M. Grill, Ph.D.
Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University
Abstract: Many
neurological disorders, for example pain and spasticity, are characterized by undesirable increases in sensory, motor, or autonomic nerve activity. Local application of kilohertz frequency (KHF) alternating currents can block conduction of undesired hyperactivity
through peripheral nerves and could be a therapeutic approach for alleviating disease symptoms. In contrast to electrical stimulation, our understanding of how KHF nerve block depends on waveform parameters is quite limited, and this lack of knowledge precludes
optimization and application of this promising therapeutic approach.
I will describe our recent work, combining computational modeling, in vivo experimental measurements, and engineering optimization, to quantify the effects of KHF waveform parameters
in nerve conduction block. The outcomes provide fundamental insights into the interaction of waveform shape and block, the potential for selective block of specific nerve fiber types (diameters), and an approach to eliminate the undesirable initial burst of
action potentials that occurs prior to achieving block, known as onset response. Collectively, the results advance the therapeutic utility of KHF nerve block.
Bio: Warren
M. Grill is the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. He received the B.S. in biomedical engineering in 1989 from Boston University and the Ph.D. in biomedical engineering in 1995 from Case Western
Reserve University.
Professor Grill teaches courses on circuits and instrumentation, bioelectricity, and the fundamentals and applications of electrical stimulation. He received the Capers & Marion
McDonald Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research at Duke University on 2008 and again in 2018, in 2013 was awarded Outstanding Postdoc Mentor at Duke University, and in 2014 received the University Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award.
His research interests are in neural engineering and neuromodulation and include design and testing of electrodes and stimulation techniques, the electrical properties of tissues
and cells, and computational neuroscience with applications to restoration of bladder function, treatment of movement disorders with deep brain stimulation, electrical stimulation for treatment of pain, and vagus nerve stimulation for regulation of organ function.
He has published over 220 peer reviewed journal articles and has been awarded 59 US patents.
He is Co-Founder, Director, and Chief Scientific Officer of NDI Medical, a medical device incubator, Co-Founder, Director, and Chief Scientific Officer of DBI, which is commercializing
a novel approach to brain stimulation for neurological disorders, and Chief Scientific Advisor at SPR Therapeutics, which has developed a novel therapy for treating pain.
Dr. Grill serves as a Consultant to the Neurological Devices Panel of the FDA Medical Devices Advisory Committee, on the editorial boards of Brain Stimulation and Current
Opinion in Biomedical Engineering, and is Deputy Editor for the Journal of Neural Engineering. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2007, elected as a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering
Society in 2011, and was awarded a Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award by NIH-NINDS in 2015.
~BME Faculty Host: Dr. Matthew Ward~
