May 11, 2026
ReTune at the DPG Congress in Leipzig: Adaptive DBS, Digital Biomarkers, and the Glymphatic System
ReTune researchers made a strong showing at this year’s annual congress of the Deutsche Parkinson Gesellschaft (DPG) in Leipzig, contributing presentations, chairing sessions, and engaging in scientific exchange on some of the most pressing questions in movement disorder research. The meeting provided a concentrated forum for discussing advances in deep brain stimulation programming, naturalistic monitoring, and the emerging role of the glymphatic system in Parkinson’s disease.
ReTune Contributions Across the Programme
Dr. Johannes Busch presented work on adaptive DBS and its translation into clinical settings, addressing one of ReTune’s central research goals: bringing closed-loop stimulation strategies from the lab to the bedside. Dr. Jeroen Habets delivered two presentations. The first examined how well symptom fluctuations in Parkinson’s disease patients can be captured using smartphone-based self-reports and wearable movement sensors during daily life, demonstrating that self-reported scores correlate with clinical motor assessments. His second talk investigated cortical and subthalamic oscillatory patterns during different behavioral states of levodopa-induced dyskinesia, identifying distinct oscillatory signatures in theta, beta, and gamma bands that may support more precise biomarkers for adaptive neuromodulation.
Jonathan Kaplan presented work on entrained gamma as a candidate biomarker for next-generation adaptive DBS. Entrained gamma, which occurs at precisely half the stimulation frequency, has been linked to dopaminergic state and may index a favorable ON state. Kaplan examined the relationship between entrained gamma and finely tuned gamma oscillations, their potential relevance to dyskinesia, and their sensitivity to behavioral and physiological context including movement, medication status, and vigilance. Recent evidence suggests that entrainment-informed adaptive DBS strategies, for example reducing stimulation amplitude when entrained gamma is present, may improve patient-relevant outcomes such as quality of life, pointing toward more sophisticated closed-loop DBS control policies.
Prof. Andrea Kühn chaired sessions at which both Busch and Habets presented. Dr. Dorothee Kübler-Weller presented new data from a prospective cohort study on the prediction of cognitive outcomes after DBS surgery, with a focus on whether cerebrospinal fluid dementia markers can improve preoperative risk estimation. Dr. Gregor Brandt gave an update on the clinical application of imaging-based DBS programming, presenting unpublished data alongside a review of recent evidence on whether this approach can not only reduce programming time but also improve treatment quality. Chi Wang Ip chaired two sessions and contributed a presentation on translational AI-based movement analysis in dystonia. Prof. Jens Volkmann addressed the state of the art in DBS programming, present and future. Prof. Esther Florin from Düsseldorf presented work on cortical responses to deep brain stimulation as markers for optimal stimulation parameters.
Spotlight on the Glymphatic System
A keynote lecture by Prof. Dr. Maiken Nedergaard attracted particular attention. She outlined how the glymphatic system, a brain-wide clearance pathway that facilitates the removal of metabolic waste through coordinated cerebrospinal and interstitial fluid exchange along perivascular spaces, is critically dependent on sleep, slow vascular dynamics, and neuromodulatory state, and is markedly suppressed by aging and neurological disease. Nedergaard presented emerging evidence linking glymphatic failure to Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis: early disruptions in neuromodulatory systems, including norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine, may impair slow vasomotion during sleep and thereby reduce the clearance of aggregation-prone proteins such as alpha-synuclein. Her talk underscored how sleep disturbances and autonomic dysfunction, which often precede motor symptoms by years to decades, may reflect underlying glymphatic failure long before overt neurodegeneration becomes clinically apparent. This model opens potential avenues for early detection and therapeutic intervention in Parkinson’s disease.
Networking and Scientific Exchange
The congress brought together a large number of German movement disorder researchers, providing ample opportunity for ReTune members to build new connections and deepen existing collaborations. The broad participation from across the consortium and partner institutions reinforced ReTune’s presence within the national movement disorders community and highlighted the range of ongoing translational work, from electrophysiology and neuroimaging to wearable technology and AI-based analysis.
© Picture: Ron Kuhwede / DPG
