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KIST and Mayo Clinic Hold BRAIN Initiative Symposium (2017.11.07)
- Date : 2017-11-20
- Views : 5017
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International Cooperation Team
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KIST and Mayo Clinic Hold BRAIN Initiative Symposium
- Discussions on deep brain stimulation (DBS) and the treatment of Parkinson's disease
On November 6 and 7, at its headquarters in Seoul, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology’s Center for Functional Connectomics (KIST-CFC) hosted a BRAIN Initiative symposium in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, a leader in deep brain stimulation* (DBS) who dispatched six prominent researchers (including Prof. Kendall Lee) to participate in the event, which was attended by around 100 brain scientists from Korea and overseas.
*DBS treats diseases of the nervous system―especially Parkinson’s―by implanting a device inside the brain to provide needed electrical stimulation. DBS is especially useful to patients for whom drug treatments are ineffective or cause severe side effects.
Participants discussed ways of improving current treatments for Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injuries. The symposium was primary meant to explore potential areas of future collaboration in research fields that KIST-CFC and the Mayo Clinic are both heavily invested in, and thereby promote joint research between Korea and the United States.
Dr. Bradley Baker of KIST-CFC, the first researcher from a Korean institute to take part in the US’s BRAIN Initiative, saw the symposium as a way of introducing KIST technologies to outstanding research institutes overseas, as well as promoting personnel/research exchanges between Korea and the US.