Is Brain and Vision Research Laboratory for you?
Yes, if you are interested in exploring the spatial and time scales of the working human brain through functional imaging, if through psychophysics you want to unravel the visual mechanisms underlying perception in humans, or you are interested in exploring visual-motor integration, or wish to use computational neurophysiological models to connect neurophysiology at specific spatial scales and behavior.
Graduate students within the Brain and Vision Research Laboratory may be students in the Biomedical Engineering Department or in any department associated and with the Program in Neuroscience at Boston University. Depending on their thesis project, my graduate students will carry out their research in the Brain and Vision Research Laboratory, the Massachusetts General Hospital NMR center or the Surgical Planning Laboratory at Brigham and Women Hospital.
Students interested in neurological patients studies may conduct part of their research at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital or at Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital. We also see neurological patients in the NeuroVisual Clinic associated with our laboratory.
Are you a prospective graduate student?
If you're preparing to apply for graduate school in Biomedical Engineering-Neuroscience track or in the Program of Neuroscience (PIN), and are interested in joining my lab, I encourage you to contact me by email (vaina@bu.edu). I usually admit one student per year (M.S., Ph.D., M.D./Ph.D.), sometimes none, occasionally two). I look for evidence of research experience in cognitive and perceptual neuroscience. I also look for a solid science background, strong mathematics and statistics coursework, and computer programming skills (e.g. Matlab). It is not necessary to have experience with psychophysics or functional neuroimaging, but it doesn't hurt. Check the appropriate graduate program pages for information about applying.
Rotations in Brain and Vision Research Laboratory
Each year I take a very small number of rotation students. The projects involve psychophysics, working with existing experiments, modifying them and read scientific papers to interpret them. Projects may also involve various aspects of imaging, from analysis, to signal processing applied to fMRI data for answering theoretical questions.
Matlab is an absolute requirement.
Summer Interns
A small number of summer interns are accepted to join the lab and get involved in our research projects carried out either on the Charles River Campus or at the MGH Biomedical Imaging Center. Excellent programming and analytical background is required. Other internships are clinical, and involve working with neurological patients and controls in our NeuroVisual Clinic on campus and/or at the hospitals we are affiliated with. The laboratory does not provide funding for the summer interns.
Lucia M. Vaina, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurology
Brain and Vision Research Laboratory
Boston University, Department of Biomedical Engineering
College of Engineering
44 Cummington St., Room 315
Boston, MA 02215
USA
E-mail: vaina@bu.edu
Tel: 617-353-2455
Fax: 617-353-6766
