Faculty
are listed by Department within their Research Areas,
with descriptions of their active projects.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY
Assistant Professor of Biology; Ph.D.- Rockefeller University, NY.
Research Interests: The Gardner lab studies the assembly and function of neural circuits, focusing on the well-defined pathways for vocal learning in songbirds. A first priority is the quantitative description of vocal behavior. The lab also explores physiological recordings and circuit perturbations in singing birds, in-vivo imaging, and theoretical models for self-assembly of neural systems.
WILLIAM D. ELDRED
Professor of Biology; Director of the Program in Neuroscience;
Professor in the Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry
Program; Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems Research
Fellow; PhD, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Research Interests:We are doing multidisciplinary studies of the role of cGMP in synaptic
mechanisms in retinal neurons. These studies employ immunocytochemistry,
retrograde tracers, intracellular injections, pharmacology, electrophysiology,
biochemistry, and image analysis at the light and electron microscopic
levels. Particular emphasis is placed on regional differences in
the retina and the biochemical and pharmacological mechanisms for
modulating cGMP in identified neurons.
JEN-WEI LIN
Professor of Biology; PhD, SUNY—Buffalo
Research Interests:Cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurotransmitter secretion.Neurotransmitter secretion is a complicated process that involves
ion channel gating and secretion steps. In addition, the mobilization
and recycling of synaptic vesicles are needed to maintain the function
of a synapse and to contribute to synaptic plasticity. Ultimately,
an understanding of the secretory events means that one can establish
a kinetic scheme for this multi-step process and identify molecules
responsible for each step. Therefore, a combined electrophysiological
and molecular approach is used in my laboratory to investigate these
questions.
MATT WACHOWIAK
Assistant Professor of Biology; PhD, University of Florida
Research Interests: My research focuses on how the nervous system encodes and processes
information about odors. Odor coding starts with olfactory receptor
neurons in the nose, where odor molecules activate specific combinations
of receptor neurons. Which receptor neurons are activated depends
on the chemical structure and concentration of the odor. We are
interested in understanding how the pattern of receptor neuron activity
encodes information about an odor as this information is transmitted
to the brain, and also how this code is transformed as the information
passes through different stages of processing in the brain.
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DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL
ENGINEERING
LUCIA M. VAINA
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Research Professor of Neurology,
School of Medicine; Brain and Vision Research Laboratory;
MS, U. Timisoara and Urbino (Italy); PhD, Mathematical Logic,
Sorbonne (France); MD, PhD (Neurologie), Human and Computational
Vision, Institut National Politechnique de Toulouse (France)
Research Interests: The adult brain constantly adapts to changes in stimuli, and this plasticity is manifest not only as learning and memory but also as dynamic changes in information transmission and processing. The goal of research in my laboratory is to understand the mechanisms mediating human visual perception in healthy and damaged human brain, long-term plasticity and short-term dynamics in networks of the adult normal and damaged (from stroke) cortex by using interactively multimodal imaging (fMRI, MEG, DTI), psychophysics, and biologically constraint computational modeling. An additional facet of our research is translational, conducted hand in hand with several neurologists and physiatrists clinicians, investigates multisensory processing for facilitating behavior and recovery in stroke patients.
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DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
DAVID SOMERS
Assistant Professor; PhD, Boston University
Research Interests: My research investigates the neural mechanisms of visual perception
and attention. These investigations take place at three levels of
analysis: investigating perceptual function; mapping perceptual
function onto brain structures; and studying the computational architecture
of the underlying neural mechanisms. In pursuing these goals, three
primary techniques are employed: traditional human visual psychophysics;
functional magnetic resonance imaging of human brain activity during
visual perceptual and attentional tasks; and computational modeling
of visual cortical circuitry. Current specific topics of interest
include visual spatial attention, visual motion perception, lightness
perception, and neural computations in primary visual cortex.
CHANTAL E. STERN
Professor of Psychology; DPhil, Oxford University
Research Interests: Research in the Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory at Boston University
is focused on using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
to study memory and cognition. The long-term objective of the laboratory
is to elucidate the neural substrates underlying memory processing
in the normal human brain, and to extend these finding to study
changes in memory functioning in normal aging, Alzheimer's disease,
and AIDS-related dementia. An additional goal is to integrate the
fMRI studies of human memory processing with knowledge from animal
models and computational modeling (Eichenbaum and Hasselmo laboratories).
Recent work includes fMRI studies of prefrontal and medial temporal
lobe interactions in picture and word encoding, examining the role
of prefrontal and medial temporal lobe contributions to working
memory for spatial, non-spatial, and complex visual stimuli, and
studies combining cognitive, physiological, and morphometric methods
to examine changes associated with aging. Imaging is carried out
at the Massachusetts General Hospital-NMR Center. Students and postdoctoral
fellows are provided with training in cognitive neuroscience, neuroanatomy,
block design and event-related fMRI, cortical inflation and flattening
techniques, and cortical parcellation techniques. In 1999, installation
of MEG facilities at the MGH-NMR Center further enhanced available
research opportunities.
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