Talks, press, and podcast appearances.
Selected media that explains the lab's work to a broader audience — from a behind-the-scenes look at the operating room to news features and patient-facing podcast conversations.
Featured video
Thought-Controlled Prosthetics: A Brain-Computer Interface Breakthrough
Penn Medicine takes you into the operating room and into the dry lab to see how the team uses 1,024-contact electrode arrays and motion-capture gloves to study how the brain coordinates movement — and how that knowledge informs the next generation of brain-computer interfaces for patients with paralysis.
Press coverage
Inside the Operating Room: Doctors Test a Revolutionary Brain-Computer Implant
The Wall Street Journal goes inside the operating room to follow Dr. Cajigas and the Penn team testing a thin, high-density brain-computer implant in awake patients. The piece reports on the medical-vs-consumer framing of BCIs, the patient experience during awake intraoperative recording, and Dr. Cajigas's caution that these devices remain medical products carrying the real risks of brain surgery — not consumer accessories.
Deep brain stimulation provides relief from essential tremor
Penn Medicine profiles Jim, who turned to Dr. Cajigas and the Penn Neurosurgery functional and stereotactic team for severe essential tremor. The piece walks through DBS as the standard of care for surgical management of essential tremor — FDA-approved since 1997 — and explains why DBS was chosen over alternatives for its versatility and ability to treat both hands simultaneously.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Movement Disorders
Penn Medicine walks through deep brain stimulation for movement disorders — how the procedure works, who is a candidate, and what to expect from surgery and follow-up device programming. A clear introduction for patients and families considering DBS for Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, or dystonia.
Focused Ultrasound for Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor
Penn Medicine follows Joe, who had been living with essential tremor for 17 years. As his medications lost effectiveness, he consulted with the Penn Neurosurgery team and underwent MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) — an incision-less, FDA-approved procedure that uses precisely targeted sound waves to treat the brain region driving the tremor. The video walks through Joe's evaluation, the procedure, and the immediate functional improvement.
Brain-Computer Interfaces for Spinal Cord Injury
Moderator Tejas Shah, MD chats with authors Kevin Davis, BS and Iahn Cajigas, MD, PhD about their review article on brain-computer interfaces for spinal cord injury — discussing the state of implantable BCIs, neuromodulation, and neurorehabilitation strategies for patients with paralysis.
Paralyzed man drives using brain-controlled technology
FOX31 Denver profiles German Aldana Zuniga, who was paralyzed in a 2013 car crash and uses a fully implanted brain-computer interface developed in collaboration with Dr. Cajigas's prior program at the University of Miami. The segment shows him steering and controlling a racecar with thought.
Podcast appearances
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)
A patient-facing conversation about deep brain stimulation for dystonia — covering when DBS becomes a viable option, success rates, surgical risks, how to get the procedure approved by insurance, and Stacey's first-hand experience with dystonia and DBS surgery.
Brain-computer interfaces: Unlocking the potential of man and machine
USA Today's The Excerpt features Dr. Cajigas in a conversation about how brain-computer interfaces promise breakthroughs in restoring lost function — and the difference between BCIs as medical devices and the popular framing of brain implants as consumer technology.
Neurosurgery & Cognition — Motor Control
The Neurosurgery Podcast hosts Dr. Cajigas for a 26-minute conversation on motor control and the neurosurgical perspective on cognition — what awake intraoperative recordings reveal about how the brain coordinates movement, and how that knowledge informs the design of brain-computer interfaces.
Press, podcast, or speaking inquiries — email the lab or contact Penn Medicine Communications.