#41: Christelle Baunez – The role of the subthalamic nucleus in brain stimulation

Stimulating Brains

In this intriguing dialogue with Dr. Christelle Baunez, a neurobiologist at Aix-Marseille University, we discuss a mysterious and small structure, the subthalamic nucleus. Christelle is known as the STN woman in France, due to her dedication to study this structure over the years. Christelle is a pioneer in the side effects related to STN stimulation in Parkinson Disease patients. Now, she is working towards understanding how STN stimulation can help people with addiction. We cover, with an historical perspective how STN became an interesting brain stimulation target, their advantages and disadvantages of its stimulation, side effects related, its connectivity and current and future applications. In addition, we discuss some of her recent fully unpublish experiments, like STN stimulation in cocaine addicted macaques and beyond. We also cover Christelle’s advocacy for animal research and its important role to push the boundaries of neuroscience. Finally, Christelle shares her passion for photography and how STN should be included in the reward circuit. This conversation was an incredible learning experience for me, and I believe it will be for you too. Thank you so much for tuning in – for this round episode number 41 of stimulating brains!