UF Innovate awards Drs. de Hemptinne and Cagle “Invention of the Year”

By Anna Shavers

Dr. Coralie de Hemptinne and Dr. Jackson Cagle
Dr. Coralie de Hemptinne (left) and Dr. Jackson Cagle (right)

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) can be an efficient therapy to managing symptoms in patients with neurological disorders but identifying stimulation parameters is a long process based on trial and error.

Coralie de Hemptinne, M.S., Ph.D., assistant professor at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health, and Jackson Cagle, Ph.D., biomedical scientist at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Disease at UF Health, have designed technologies to identify effective stimulation settings based on patient’s brain activity.

Drs. de Hemptinne and Cagle’s technology, which received UF Innovate’s 2022 Invention of the Year, predicts the best implant setting for each individual patient.

Utilizing the DBS implants, the technology generates visual representations for physicians and patients to make real-time adjustments to the implants. Having the capability to adjust DBS implant pulses in real time provides patients living with complex neurological disorders the greatest benefit.

“Their work is important because it will reduce the time to achieve symptom relief and will improve the function and mobility of patients,” said Melissa Kuchma, Ph.D., assistant director and licensing officer at UF Innovate. “In addition to the potential impact of this work, I chose Drs. de Hemptinne and Jackson because they have a strong commitment to helping patients and improving their lives.”

UF Innovate connects innovators with entrepreneurs, investors and industry, incubates startups and growth companies, and fosters a resilient economy to build business on innovation. At their annual “Standing InnOvation” on October 26th, UF Innovate honored Drs. de Hemptinne and Cagle for their technology, “Automatic Algorithm for Prediction of Therapeutic Settings for Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy Based on Neural Signals”.

Watch the recorded event and learn about Drs. de Hemptinne and Cagle’s technologies. [44:00 time stamp]