Sohail Noor, PhD, came to the Indiana University School of Medicine with an unorthodox mix of expertise: a background in engineering combined with a research interest in neuroscience.
“I did my undergraduate in electrical engineering but always had an interest in the brain,” said Noor, assistant professor of neurological surgery. “I’m curious about what makes people’s minds work differently, what causes neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions and how engineering approaches can help us understand and treat them.”
Despite growing up in the fifth-most populous country in the world, Noor said there were no dedicated programs in Pakistan where he could pursue an education that integrated engineering and neuroscience.
In 2010, he packed his bags and headed to Europe, where he studied biomedical engineering with a specialization in neural engineering through a joint program, earning master’s degrees from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.
Graduate school marked Noor’s first encounter with something that would remain at the top of his mind for the next 15 years and counting: deep brain stimulation.
Deep brain stimulation is an FDA-approved therapy for movement disorders and certain psychiatric conditions, in which tiny electrical pulses are delivered to disease-associated brain regions through surgically implanted electrodes. The IU School of Medicine brings together an interdisciplinary team of experts who collaborate to deliver this treatment and lead research to improve it.
“I found deep brain stimulation to be very fascinating,” Noor said. “It is precise. It is local. It is relatively reversible, and so many patients can benefit from it.”
Noor joined the Department of Neurological Surgery in February. In addition to leading intraoperative neurophysiology for deep brain stimulation surgeries, Noor conducts research aimed at advancing this therapy. His work integrates neurophysiology, imaging, signal processing and computational modeling.
“I wanted to find a place that fosters collaboration — where I could continue my research while working side-by-side with neurosurgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists and other specialists,” Noor said. “There are very few institutions in the country that not only prioritize clinical care but also invest in advancing research and innovation. That’s happening at the IU School of Medicine.”
Improving the efficacy of deep brain stimulation
Noor conducted doctoral research at the University of Calgary in Canada. Under the supervision of a surgeon scientist, he investigated the mechanisms of deep brain stimulation in both animal models and human patients, using electrophysiology and imaging.
“I got the opportunity to study the effects of different stimulation parameters in animals while also attending nearly every deep brain stimulation surgery she performed over a five-year period,” Noor said. “Having that exposure in the operating room, seeing how we record a patient’s brain signals and how cells respond to acute sensorimotor and electrical stimulation was transformative.”
This experience, coupled with his expertise in engineering, drove Noor to dive even deeper into neuromodulation mechanisms.
“While deep brain stimulation is an established therapy, its underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood,” said Noor, who conducted his postdoctoral research on the biophysical mechanisms of deep brain stimulation at Case Western Reserve University and Duke University. “Clinicians are experts at performing these procedures and achieving excellent patient outcomes, but exactly how the therapy exerts its effects remains an active area of research.”
Noor aims to make deep brain stimulation more precise and effective for patients experiencing debilitating mental health conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction, which are often difficult to treat with medication alone.
Fostering intellectual curiosity in the next generation
Noor’s lab investigates how to develop circuit-specific neuromodulation strategies to treat neuropsychiatric conditions and study biomarkers for adaptive deep brain stimulation.
This past summer, four undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds — biology, computer science, physics and medicine — took part in a variety of research projects in the Noor Precision Neuromodulation Lab.
“Everyone has a different way of thinking. Bringing together those diverse perspectives and areas of expertise is crucial to the interdisciplinary work we do,” Noor said.
Coming from a small liberal arts university with mainly wet lab experience and little knowledge about deep brain stimulation, Alec Foster said he initially felt intimidated joining Noor’s lab.
“It was all very new to me, but Dr. Noor has been such a great mentor,” said Foster, a biology major at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. “He's challenged me with learning new concepts, but he's been able to do so in a way that even when he can tell we’re confused, he’ll give more lead-in questions to help guide us to the right answer. He won’t give it to you right away, but he’s there to help every step of the way.”
Foster’s work in the lab focused on examining the relationship between beta power and beta bursts in patients with Parkinson’s disease with the goal of determining if deep brain stimulation should be adjusted to improve treatment effectiveness.
He presented his findings at Stark Neurosciences Research Institute’s Summer Science Symposium in July. His poster, titled “Relationship Between Beta Power and Beta Bursts in the Subthalamic Nucleus of Parkinson’s Disease Patients,” won second place among students in the Medical Neuroscience Summer Undergraduate Research Program.
“I got to shadow one of the surgeries where they were adjusting the stimulation parameters,” Foster said. “Seeing symptom improvement live and the real-world application of what we’ve been doing in the lab and how it’s actually helping patients was very rewarding.”
Advancing deep brain stimulation is challenging, but Noor remains optimistic. He said the collaborative work of clinicians and researchers at the IU School of Medicine promises to improve technology and enhance mechanistic understanding, ultimately leading to better outcomes for more patients.
“This is a new, growing field and sometimes the research can feel overwhelming for students,” Noor said. “I hope to instill in them a fearlessness in asking questions. That’s how we will innovate and make a real difference in patients’ lives all around the world.”
