From Left to Right:
Prof. Dr. Sunil Narayan (JIPMER)
Prof. Dr. med. Michael A. Nitsche, University of Göttingen, Germany
Shri Sundeep K. Nayak, Joint Secretary to Govt.of India, MHFW
Prof. Dr. T.S. Ravikumar, Director, JIPMER
Mr. Philip Petit, Counsellor, Science and Technology, Germany Embassy
Dr. Torsten Fischer, Director, DFG- India Office and Coordinator, DWIH
Prof. Dr. Neelesh Vasa, HOD, Department of Engineering, IITM, Chennai
Prof. Dr. Roopesh Kumar, HOD, Neurosurgery
Indo-German Workshop on Neurobionics in Clinical Neurology
The first Indo-German workshop on Neurobionics took place from 15th to 17th of February 2013 in the
Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry.The
German participants included experts from the universities of Göttingen and Aachen as well as from
the Research Center Jülich. The workshop among others was also supported by the German House
for Research and Innovation – DWIH New Delhi.
Neurobionics-the application of electronics in neurotherapeutics - is a fast growing interdisciplinary
field dedicated to the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases. For many years deep brain stimulation
for the treatment to improve limb functions has been practiced, and advancement of research in these
techniques have resulted in broadening its areas of applications also for non-invasive brain stimulation
techniques, which are used as tools to help translating brain and nerve signals into actions in patients.
Most recently, therapeutic application of brain and peripheral nervous system stimulation through
application of electrical stimulation have been identified, and this development will enable relevant
future improvements in the therapy of neurological diseases
The three day workshop gave an overview about the chances of neurobionics to improve the
treatment of neurological patients and the practical application of electrical stimulation. Experts from
Germany and India interacted with some 100 doctoral and post-doctoral researchers from various
Indian research institutes and exchanged ideas ranging from clinical application of invasive brain
stimulation, such as deep brain stimulation in Parkinson´s disease, and vagal nerve stimulation in
epilepsy, to new non-invasive brain stimulation protocols, including transcranial magnetic, and direct
current stimulation.
It was furthermore dedicated to improve scientific exchange between Indian and German researchers,
resulting in the establishment of fruitful future collaborations in this exciting, and rapidly developing
field of neuroscience.