Faculty
are listed by Department within their Research Areas,
with descriptions of their active projects.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY
TIM GARDNER,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.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
H. STEVEN COLBURN
Professor, Biomedical Engineering;
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research Interests: Dr. Colburn's research involves the application of signal processing,
statistical communication theory, and computational modeling to
the study of hearing and hearing impairments. He is particularly
interested in the measurement and modeling of binaural hearing performance.
He is also interested in human-machine interfaces for virtual environments
and teleoperators.
JAMES J. COLLINS
Professor/Supervisor, Motion Analysis Laboratory;
PhD, University of Oxford (England)
Research Interests: Dr. Collins' research interests include developing and implementing
techniques and concepts from nonlinear dynamics and statistical
physics to study the neural control and biomechanics of posture
and locomotion.
DAVID C. MOUNTAIN, Jr.
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Associate Research Professor,
Otolaryngology, School of Medicine; PhD, University of Wisconsin
Research Interests:Auditory information processing, sensory biophysics, computer simulation,
biomedical electronics, biomedical signal, and image processing.
Dr. Mountain's research centers around experimental
and theoretical studies of hearing function including: cochlear
biomechanics, otacoustic emissions, auditory processing of complex
sounds, and auditory evoked potentials. Professor Mountain also
collaborates with researchers from the Boston University Marine
Program who are studying olfactory physiology and behavior.
CHRISTOPHER PASSAGLIA
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering;
PhD, Syracuse University
Research Interests: Dr. Passaglia studies how the eye transforms visual images into
the neural signals it transmits to the brain and how target neurons
in the brain process these signals. His laboratory is presently
focused on quantitatively describing the receptive field properties
of mammalian retinal ganglion cells in normal and diseased states
and on building computer models that accurately simulate the retinal
output under natural viewing conditions. Another interest of the
lab is to characterize the response properties of invertebrate visual
neurons, particularly those of horseshoe crabs, which mediate comparatively
simple visually-guided behaviors. His research uses electrophysiological,
anatomical, computational, and behavioral methods.
KAMAL SEN
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering; PhD, Brandeis University
Research Interests: Our laboratory studies the neural coding of complex vocal communication
sounds in songbirds, a model system that shows striking parallels
to humans. We use electrophysiological techniques to record neural
responses. Theoretical methods from areas such as statistical signal
processing, systems theory, probability theory, and pattern recognition
are applied to characterize how neurons in the brain encode natural
sounds. We also use computational modeling to understand the processing
of natural sounds, both at the single neuron and the network level.
LUCIA M. VAINA
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Research Professor of Neurology,
School of Medicine; PhD, Sorbonne (France) and Doctorat D'Etat es
Sciences, National Politechnique Institute-Toulouse (France), 1985
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.
HERBERT F. VOIGT
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Associate Research Professor,
Otolaryngology, School of Medicine; PhD, Johns Hopkins University
Research Interests:Dr. Voigt is currently engaged in experimental and theoretical studies
of the neuronal circuitry in the cochlear nucleus. He uses single-
and multi-unit recording and analysis techniques to study the responses
of neurons and neural nets to acoustic stimulation. Other interests
include brainstem auditory evoked responses and neural modeling
of the cochlear nucleus.
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DEPARTMENT OF COGNITIVE
AND NEURAL SYSTEMS
DANIEL H. BULLOCK
Associate Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems and
Psychology; PhD, Stanford University
Research Interests:Integrated neural network models of sensory-motor learning, planning
and control. These neural network models encompass circuits in cortex,
basal ganglia, cerebellum, and the spinal cord. Our studies focus
on step-by-step reconstruction of known brain and CNS circuits within
the context of a quantitative functional theory of adaptive behavior
and cognition. Concepts and hypotheses are rigorously assessed by
comprehensive computer simulations of neural circuits that are specified
as systems of ordinary differential equations.
GAIL A. CARPENTER
Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems and Mathematics;
PhD, University of Wisconsin
Research Interests:Development of neural network models for self-organizing category
learning and pattern recognition; neural mechanisms of synaptic
transmission and adaptation; and systems that incorporate these
models into neural networks architectures for incremental supervised
learning and prediction. Also: Neural models of vision, nerve impulse
generation (Hodgkin-Huxley equations), transmitter dynamics, and
biological rhythms.
MICHAEL A. COHEN
Associate Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems and
Computer Science; PhD, Harvard University
Research Interests:Neural network models of speech and language processing. Stability
and instability of dynamical systems underlying neural networks.
Models of memory, language comprehension, and auditory psychoacoustics,
statistical neural network models of depression, and cardiovascular
control.
STEPHEN GROSSBERG
Wang Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems,
Professor of Mathematics, Psychology, and Biomedical Engineering;
Director, Center for Adaptive Systems; Chairman, Department of
Cognitive and Neural Systems; PhD, Rockefeller University
Research Interests:Development of neural models of learning, recognition, memory, vision,
audition, speech, cognition, reinforcement, attention, adaptive
sensory-motor control, and biological rhythms. Systematic analysis
and prediction of behavioral and brain data in both normal and clinical
patients. Applications to outstanding technological problems.
FRANK GUENTHER
Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems; PhD,
Boston University
Research Interests: Areas of research include speech production, speech perception,
and functional brain imaging. These areas are studied with an approach
that combines computational and neural modeling with experimental
investigations that test model performance and guide model development.
Modeling efforts emphasize skill acquisition and flexible performance
under a variety of environmental conditions.
ENNIO MINGOLLA
Chair and Professor of Cognitive
and Neural Systems and Psychology;Co-Director, Center for Excellence in Learning in Education, Science, and Technology. PhD, University of Connecticut.
Research Interests: Theoretical research includes design of neural network architectures
for visual perception, including segmentation, completion, and grouping
of static and moving boundaries, textures, and shaded regions. Empirical
research includes psychophysical studies of human perception of
visual motion, visual search, surface perception, and object recognition.
ERIC L. SCHWARTZ
Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems, Electrical and
Computer Systems Engineering, and Anatomy and Neurobiology; PhD,
Columbia University
Research Interests: Computational neuroscience, space-variant vision, modeling of cortical
map and column systems, spatial representation, computer aided neuroanatomy,
robotics and VLSI.
BARBARA G. SHINN-CUNNINGHAM
Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems and
Biomedical Engineering; PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research Interests: My research focuses on modeling auditory perception, with a special
emphasis on binaural and spatial hearing, learning and plasticity
in spatial perception, and multi-sensory interactions. The goal
of this work is to develop physiologically-based, computational
models that describe human and animal behavior. Perceptual experiments
are used to test and refine these models.
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SCIENCES
HELEN BARBAS
Professor; PhD, McGill University
Research Interests: Organization of the prefrontal cortex in primates.
Research involves the use of tracers to map neural circuits associated
with cognitive, mnemonic, and emotional processes. Combined histochemical,
immunocytochemical, and molecular approaches are used to characterize
specific receptors and intracellular markers in neurons involved
in these circuits.
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DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
NANCY KOPELL
Professor; PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Research Interests: I'm interested in the origin and functional uses of dynamics
in the nervous system, especially dynamics involving rhythms. My
main current focus is rhythms in the hippocampus, thalamus, and
neocortex, especially rhythms associated with memory, learning,
attention, and awareness. The research aims to understand first
how the intrinsic and synaptic membrane properties of classes of
neurons lead networks of such neurons to exhibit rhythmic behavior,
and how modulations lead to different dy namic behavior (e.g., different
rhythms). This knowledge is the basis for investigation of how subnetworks
of the nervous system affect the dynamics of other subnetworks,
how they coordinate their firing (e.g., create dispersed cell assemblies),
and why different rhythms appear in different behavioral contexts.
Other interests include the dynamics of central pattern generators.
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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY
AND BIOPHYSICS
GREGOR J. JONES
Assistant Professor; PhD
Research Interests:Photoreceptor mechanisms, especially the mechanisms of light and
dark adaptation as measured electrically in isolated single photoreceptors.
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
HOWARD EICHENBAUM
University Professor and Director of Center for Neuroscience and the Center for Memory and Brain; PhD, University of Michigan
Research Interests: My research involves explorations of the neural circuitry that mediates
our capacities for cognition and memory. In particular, work in
my lab focuses on the contributions of a system of brain structures
including the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Our approach to understanding
this system entails a combination of neuropsychological testing
to analyze how memory breaks down after selective damage to components
of this system and electrophysiological recording to characterize
how experiences are encoded by the activity patterns of neurons
in these brain structures.
MICHAEL HASSELMO
Professor of Psychology; DPhil, Oxford University
Research Interests: Research in the Hasselmo laboratory focuses on physiological and
computational analysis of the mechanisms of memory function in mammalian
cortical circuits, including the role of activation in muscarinic
acetylcholine receptors and GABAB receptors, and the role of oscillatory
dynamics in the olfactory cortex and hippocampus. Students in the
laboratory have the opportunity to learn a wide range of neuroscience
research techniques, including electrophysiological recording from
brain slice preparations of the hippocampus and piriform cortex,
recordings of evoked potentials and unit activity in anesthetized
and chronic preparations, detailed compartmental biophysical simulations
of cortical circuits, and behavioral studies of cholinergic modulation
in olfactory behavior. Articles from this laboratory have been co-authored
by numerous trainees, many of whom have performed both computational
modeling work and physiological research while working in the laboratory.
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.
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