BIOGRAPHY
I studied Physics at Oxford University, graduating in 1992, then switched to medicine, also at Oxford, graduating in 1998. After basic surgical training in Nottingham I moved to Cambridge University where I obtained a PhD in neuroelectronic interfacing, before returning to Oxford and taking up my current clinical and research positions in 2012.
Research groups
Websites
-
Oxford Functional Neurosurgery
Research Group
Striatal damping
James FitzGerald
MA BM BCh FRCS(SN) PhD
Consultant Neurosurgeon
Research Summary
I work on implanted electronic devices that interface directly with parts of the nervous system.
At present my main focus is on the development of a novel type of interface capable of recording signals from motor axons in severed peripheral nerves after amputation, with the aim of using these signals to control advanced prosthetic limbs.
This requires advances in several areas including polymer microfabrication techniques, microsurgical implantation methods, and the development of multichannel signal processing and pattern recognition algorithms. A further problem is that like virtually all surgical implants, interfaces evoke a foreign body response that leads to the deposition of scar tissue on their surfaces, which leads to gradual electrical failure of the device. A major strand of my work at present concerns the development of techniques for long term scar suppression, and I have recently shown that drug elution is a very promising approach to this (see Journal of Neural Engineering 2016;13:026006 for further details).
I am also one of the three academic consultants in Oxford Functional Neurosurgery, which has the UK's largest clinical practice in deep brain stimulation, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglion stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation, for the treatment of movement disorders and neuropathic pain. Alongside and closely intertwined with this clinical work we run a research programme investigating the mechanisms by which neuromodulation treatments work and how they can be improved and their use expanded to new indications.
Recent publications
-
The Importance of the Location of Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulator Electrodes Within the Nerve Root Exit Foramen.
Journal article
Martin S. et al, (2020), Neuromodulation, 23, 245 - 251
-
The effect of levodopa on saccades – Oxford Quantification in Parkinsonism study
Journal article
Lu Z. et al, (2019), Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, 68, 49 - 56
-
Revisiting the rules for anatomical targeting of ventralis intermediate nucleus.
Journal article
Nowacki A. et al, (2019), J Clin Neurosci, 68, 97 - 100
-
Deep brain stimulation of chronic cluster headaches: Posterior hypothalamus, ventral tegmentum and beyond.
Journal article
Nowacki A. et al, (2019), Cephalalgia, 39, 1111 - 1120
-
Burst Occipital Nerve Stimulation for Chronic Migraine and Chronic Cluster Headache.
Journal article
Garcia-Ortega R. et al, (2019), Neuromodulation, 22, 638 - 644