Volunteering as a research participant.
This page is for people who want to volunteer for the lab's research — either as a patient already scheduled for surgery, or as a healthy control. For the same information from a clinical-care angle (with conditions, procedures, and how to be referred), see the Clinical Trials page.
Who can participate
Most of the lab's research takes place during procedures already scheduled for clinical reasons — for example, additional intraoperative recordings during a planned deep brain stimulation (DBS) implantation. We do not perform separate research-only surgeries. Three studies are currently open; the full description of each — eligibility, what participation involves, and study aims — is on the Clinical Trials page:
- Recordings during awake brain surgery — for adults 18–75 already scheduled for awake craniotomy or burr-hole brain surgery (e.g. DBS, SEEG, supratentorial craniotomy)
- Spinal cord recordings during an SCS implant or trial — for adults 18–75 already scheduled for an SCS implant or percutaneous trial
- Cuneiform-nucleus DBS multicenter trial — for adults 35–80 with Parkinson's disease and levodopa-resistant freezing of gait
What participation looks like
For the surgical recording studies, the research portion happens during a part of the surgery (or an externalized-lead recording session) already planned for clinical reasons — typically 15–30 minutes of active participation, with setup running in parallel with surgical preparation so the procedure is not lengthened. There are usually no follow-up research visits and no direct benefit to participants. The time commitment for each study is described with each study on the Clinical Trials page.
How consent works
Research participation is always optional, separately consented from clinical care, and reviewed by Penn's Institutional Review Board (IRB). Choosing not to participate — or withdrawing later — does not change anything about your clinical care. The team will explain exactly what data is collected, what's done with it, and how it's protected before you sign any research consent form.
Email iahn.cajigas@pennmedicine.upenn.edu with the study you're interested in (or "general inquiry"). The team will get back to you with the relevant IRB protocol number, eligibility checklist, and next steps.
Details for each study are added to this page as consent documents are finalized.