Jocelyne Bloch (born 1968) is a Swiss neuroscientist and a neurosurgeon at

Lausanne University Hospital The Lausanne University Hospital (, CHUV), in Lausanne, is one of the five Teaching hospital, university hospitals in Switzerland. The Lausanne University Hospital is linked to the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne, ...

and at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).

Life

Bloch graduated in the Faculty of Medicine of Lausanne University in December 1994 and she obtained her neurosurgical degree in 2002. Her area of expertise is

deep brain stimulation Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a type of neurostimulation therapy in which an implantable pulse generator is stereotactic surgery, surgically implanted subcutaneous tissue, below the skin of the chest and connected by Lead (electronics), leads ...

and brain repair in relation to movement disorders. In collaboration with EPFL, she is currently leading a clinical feasibility study that evaluates the therapeutic potential of this

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue that extends from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone) of vertebrate animals. The center of the spinal c ...

stimulation technology, without a brain implant, to improve the walking ability in people with partial spinal cord injury affecting the lower limbs. Since 2019 she has also been an adjunct professor of neuroscience at EPFL. Since 2019, Bloch together with Grégoire Courtine, leads the .Neurorestore Laboratory, jointly managed by the

, the University of Lausanne, the Defitech Foundation and the EPFL. Bloch was awarded the Ronald Tasker Award (2019) of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery for her innovative research in

neuromodulation Neuromodulation is the physiological process by which a given neuron uses one or more chemicals to regulate diverse populations of neurons. Neuromodulators typically bind to metabotropic, G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) to initiate a sec ...

and spinal cord repair. Jocelyne Bloch and Grégoire Courtine were named in Time 2024 100 influential people in health list.

Paralysed but walking: Brain and spine implants help monkeys move again

The wireless brain and spine implants used could help paralysed people regain control of their bodies. Monkeys with spinal injuries that have left them paralysed are able to walk again through wireless implants in their brains and spines that bypass the damaged tissue. Scientists developed a brain-spinal interface to transmit neural signals from the brain to a site in the spinal cord downstream of the injury. Neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch of the Lausanne University Hospital, who surgically implanted the brain and spinal cord implants, says: "The link between the decoding of the brain and the stimulation of the spinal cord – to make this communication exist – is completely new".

References

External links

* * * Website o
.Neurorestore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch, Jocelyne Swiss neurosurgeons Women neurosurgeons University of Lausanne alumni Living people Swiss women neuroscientists 21st-century Swiss physicians 21st-century Swiss women scientists 21st-century Swiss scientists 21st-century women physicians 1968 births Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne