Patients with hyperkinetic movement disorders suffer from excessive involuntary movements, such as trembling (tremor), shaking (myoclonus), or twisting movements (dystonia). This often severely limits patients in their daily lives. It is important to determine the right type of movement disorder, as this determines the diagnostic procedures that will be performed and the treatment that will be initiated for a patient.
‘NEMO: the Next Move in Movement Disorders’ led by neurologist Prof. Marina de Koning-Tijssen, is a successful, innovative, healthcare-technological, scientific project. The aim of NEMO is to better distinguish between different types of movement disorders using movement registrations, brain scans, and machine learning. So far, more than 200 participants have participated in NEMO.
The start of NEMO was made possible with an SNN-EFRO grant to realize the technical setup of NEMO, and a ZonMW TOP grant that facilitated the analysis of movement registrations and PET scans. The NWO Open Technology Programme now enables the analysis of 3D camera recordings and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans that have also been conducted within the NEMO project (FindingNEMO).
The 3D cameras capture video and depth images simultaneously in healthy participants and patients with tremor, dystonia, myoclonus, and myoclonus-dystonia. During the recordings, participants perform 36 different motor tasks. For the brain scans, the aim is to gain better insight into the underlying affected brain networks in patients. These brain scans are taken while performing hand movements in an MRI scanner.
Using machine learning, the research team plans to identify unique movement and brain signatures for each movement disorder. These signatures can then be used to support doctors in determining the right type of movement disorder.
This project is a collaboration between Expertise Centre Movement Disorders Groningen: dr. Jelle Dalenberg and prof. Marina de Koning-Tijssen (in cooperation with dr. Madelein van der Stouwe and dr. Inge Tuitert) and The Bernoulli Institute, University of Groningen: dr. George Azzopardi and prof. Michael Biehl.
Info OTP
