Neuro-X Investigators Recognized in Fourth Quarter MUSC Innovator Awards
Fourth quarter MUSC innovators are Dr. Anita Ramsetty, from left, Dr. Dorothea Jenkins, Dr. Bashar Badran, Dr. Mary Mauldin and Dr. Michelle L. Woodbury. Not pictured: Dr. Amy Williams
Sponsored by the Office of Innovation, the “I am an MUSC Innovator” campaign is designed to raise awareness of the many forms that innovation can take to inspire others and publicly recognize individuals and teams that are making an impact. For additional information, contact Jesse Goodwin, chief innovation officer (goodwijs@musc.edu).Staff ReportIndividuals, teams inspire innovative ideas, solutions
December 20th, 2019 - Catalyst Newspaper Archive
Bashar Badran, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dorothea Jenkins, M.D., professor of Pediatrics, Neonatology Division
Problem — Rehabilitation after neonatal brain injury takes time and often requires weeks of intensive occupational and physical therapy even for the most basic of skills, such as learning to feed. What if we could use the plasticity of the developing brain to accelerate the speed of rehabilitation by boosting the brain’s ability to learn movements critical to sucking and swallowing? Our solution is to pair noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation with oromotor rehabilitation to activate brain circuits involved in learning to feed, improve function after brain injury and avoid other solutions for infants, such as gastrostomy tube placement.
Impact — Over the past five years here at MUSC, we have developed transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) as an exciting noninvasive form of VNS that does not require surgical implantation. We are now successfully using taVNS to develop oromotor function in babies born premature or with brain injury so that they can go home on full oral feeds and avoid direct stomach feedings with a gastrostomy tube. We are in the process of developing a SmartStim baby bottle that pairs this stimulation with the motor activity of feeding as a new medical device for pediatric neurorehabilitation.
Recognition —Mark George, M.D., and Steve Kautz, Ph.D., for their support in the development of innovative neuromodulation tools for brain injury and allowing us to move these into the realm of pediatric brain injury. MUSC NM4R and MUSC COBRE provided the financial support that was critical to launching these studies. The multidisciplinary study team involved hard work from the technicians and study coordinators from the Brain Stimulation Laboratory; Hunter Moss and Jens Jensen from MUSC’s Center for Biomedical Imaging; and Patty Coker–Bolt, Ph.D., and her students in the College of Health Professionals, Division of Occupational Therapy.