Dr. Charles Blaha, professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, along with his collaborator, Kendall H. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic, has been awarded a patent for a device that has the potential to help those suffering from a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Their work builds upon the established procedure known as deep brain stimulation, or DBS, a therapy used to treat Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy among other disorders. The device Dr. Blaha and Dr. Lee invented is embedded under the skin and measures the neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate in the brain as they are released during DBS. Measurements made possible by the device can then be used to determine how DBS should be modulated to treat various neurological and psychiatric conditions and has the potential to greatly improve the therapeutic success of DBS. Patients suffering from Parkinson’s, tremor, dystonia, pain, depression, OCD, and other disorders may all benefit from this therapy.

Dr. Blaha joined the University of Memphis faculty in 2004, and his other research interests include drug addiction research using state-of-the-art in vivo electrochemical and microdialysis recording techniques and systems neuroscience approach to understanding the neurobiological bases of incentive-motivated behaviors. He is the director of the division of Experimental Psychology at the university. In addition to his research, Dr. Blaha also teaches several upper division undergraduate and graduate level courses.