{"id":797,"date":"2013-01-15T09:25:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T14:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=797"},"modified":"2017-07-28T10:08:39","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T14:08:39","slug":"stimulating-approach-parkinsons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2013\/01\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\/","title":{"rendered":"A Stimulating Approach to Parkinson\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sridevi-Sarma\"<\/a>
A TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACH: Sridevi Sarma has earned top honors from the NSF for her work in deep brain stimulation. (Photo by Will Kirk)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sridevi V. Sarma<\/a>, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering<\/a>, has received the highest U.S. honor bestowed upon early-stage researchers for her work using electrical engineering and computer science tools to develop treatments for debilitating brain disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s disease and epilepsy.<\/p>\n

Sarma was selected to receive a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by the National Science Foundation for her \u201ctransformative approach to design and control of electrical deep brain stimulation for the treatment of Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Says Sarma, \u201cResearchers such as myself, trained in control theory, look at complex systems. I apply this to the study of the brain. I want to use control theory A Stimulating Approach to Parkinson\u2019s tools to better understand the brain\u2019s neural circuitry in the hopes of finding new treatments for disorders and disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to working on deep brain stimulation, Sarma is collaborating with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine epilepsy experts to improve anti-seizure technology with the goal of developing new early warning systems for seizures that could lead to reducing unneeded treatments.<\/p>\n

Sarma earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Cornell University in electrical engineering, then master\u2019s and doctoral degrees at MIT, both in electrical engineering and computer science.<\/p>\n

During her doctoral studies, however, she pursued a minor in neuroscience. For a class, she conducted a case study of her aunt, who had developed Parkinson\u2019s disease at age 29 and had trouble managing it with medication. The experience had a profound impact on her. \u201cI wanted to understand the neurobiological circuitry of this disease,\u201d she says. Sarma began to focus on deep brain stimulation\u2014 the use of electric pulses to treat brain disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s and epilepsy.<\/p>\n

She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in MIT\u2019s Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department and became a neuroscience research associate with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She joined BME, shared by the engineering and medical schools, in 2009. She is a core faculty member in the Institute for Computational Medicine, and in 2011, she received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sridevi V. Sarma has received the highest U.S. honor bestowed upon early-stage researchers for her work using electrical engineering and computer science tools to develop treatments for debilitating brain disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s disease and epilepsy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-currents","issue-winter-2013"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Stimulating Approach to Parkinson\u2019s - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2013\/01\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Stimulating Approach to Parkinson\u2019s - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sridevi V. Sarma has received the highest U.S. honor bestowed upon early-stage researchers for her work using electrical engineering and computer science tools to develop treatments for debilitating brain disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s disease and epilepsy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2013\/01\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-15T14:25:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-28T14:08:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Sridevi-Sarma.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"headline\":\"A Stimulating Approach to Parkinson\u2019s\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-15T14:25:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-28T14:08:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":384,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/Sridevi-Sarma.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Currents\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Stimulating Approach to Parkinson\u2019s - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/Sridevi-Sarma.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-15T14:25:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-28T14:08:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/stimulating-approach-parkinsons\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/Sridevi-Sarma.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/Sridevi-Sarma.jpg\",\"width\":380,\"height\":286,\"caption\":\"A TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACH: Sridevi Sarma has earned top honors from the NSF for her work in deep brain stimulation. 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