Faculty are listed by Department within their Research Areas,
with descriptions of their active projects.

ANATOMY AND NEUROBIOLOGY

MARK MOSS
Chairman and Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology;
PhD, Northeastern University

Research Interests: Research efforts are aimed at the investigation of the neurobiological basis of memory in humans and nonhuman primates. Studies include behavioral, neurohistochemical, and neuroanatomical assessment of the effects of basal forebrain and selected brain stem and limbic system lesions in the monkey as a working model of Alzheimer's disease and other neurologic disorders. Parallel behavioral and neuropathological studies are conducted in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

ALAN PETERS
Waterhouse Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology;
PhD, University of Bristol, England

Research Interests: Research interests are on (1) the organization, connections, and characteristics of neurons in the cerebral cortex, and (2) the effects of normal aging on the primate cerebral cortex. The techniques used include light and electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry, confocal microscopy, and stereology.

JULIE SANDELL
Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology;
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research Interests: My lab has two major areas of interest: 1) we are part of a group that is building a retinal prosthesis to treat retinal degeneration and 2) we are interested in discovering the biological basis for cognitive impairment during normal aging. For the first project, we use anatomical techniques to investigate the remodeling that occurs in the retina in retinitis pigmentosa. We also study retinas from animals that have retinal degeneration as a result of a mutation, or as a result of a photoreceptor toxin. For the second project, we study the changes in neurons and neuroglial cells in the brain in monkeys as they age, and try to correlate the structural changes with the monkey's cognitive performance, which is determined in another laboratory. We are particularly interested in teasing apart the changes that are related to age alone from those that are related to cognitive status. Ultimately we would like to know what allows some individuals to age "successfully," while others are severely impaired. I also have long-standing interests in visual system plasticity and the role of GABA in neuronal development.

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DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

JELLE ATEMA
Professor of Biology; PhD, University of Michigan

Research Interests: Sensory Neurobiology and Behavioral Ecology: Spectral and temporal filter properties of chemoreceptor cells in different receptor organs of the lobster. High resolution measurement and models of turbulent submarine odor plumes. Chemosensory orientation behavior: "Eddy-scale chemotaxis". "Robo-lobster", autonomous underwater vehicle designed to explore neural models of chemotaxis and to locate odor and pollution sources. Chemical signals in lobster courtship behavior. Laboratory and field studies. Evolution of brains and complex behavior of invertebrates. Funded by grants from NSF, NIH. Research facilities at the Boston University Marine Program, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole.

MICHAEL J. BAUM
Professor of Biology; PhD, McGill University

Research Interests: I study the steroidal control of brain and behavioral sexual differentiation in ferrets and mice. This work employs immunocytochemistry, computer-assisted imaging analysis, radioimmunoassay of sex steroids and reproductively relevant neuropeptides, intra-cranial administration of neurotoxins, neural tract tracing compounds and other pharmacological agents, as well as the observation and registration of reproductive and olfactory behaviors.

VINCENT E. DIONNE
Professor of Biology; PhD, University of Arizona

Research Interests: Chemosensory physiology: research on the cellular mechanisms underlying the detection and discrimination of odors by olfactory receptor neurons in vertebrates. Electrophysiological, anatomical, histochemical, and molecular biological techniques are used in the laboratory.

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.

WILLIAM D. ELDRED
Professor of Biology; Professor in the Molecular Biology,
Cell Biology and Biochemistry Program; Professor in the Program in
Neuroscience; 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 identifies neurons.

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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.

CARLO J. DE LUCA
Director/Founder, Neuromuscular Research Center;
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Research Professor, Neurology;
PhD, Queen's University (Canada)

Research Interests: Professor De Luca's research centers on issues dealing with rehabilitation of the physically disabled; understanding how the brain and spinal cord control the individual fibers in a muscle, and groups of muscles, in healthy as well as dysfunctioned individuals; methodologies for objectively measuring muscle fatigue during voluntary efforts; methodologies for objectively evaluating the performance of low-back muscles.

ALLYN E. HUBBARD
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; PhD, University of Wisconsin

Research Interests: Professor Hubbard carries on research in the study of the electromechanical properties of the cochlea and the modeling of auditory function. His interests also include the application of microcircuit technology in areas such as brain probes, neuromorphic computer architectures, and networks with brain-like structure.

DAVID C. MOUNTAIN, Jr.
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Associate Research Professor,
Otolaryngology, School of Medicine; PhD, University of Wisconsin

Auditory information processing, sensory biophysics, computer simulation, biomedical electronics, biomedical signal, and image processing.

Research Interests: 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.

MALVIN C. TEICH
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; PhD, Cornell

Research Interests: Professor Teich's research interests in neuroscience center on information transmission in biological sensory systems. He is studying how acoustical and optical stimuli are encoded into sequences of action potentials at various locations in the auditory and visual systems. He has observed that the nerve-spike patterns behave as fractal sequences of events, with rates that wax and wane over a broad range of time scales. He is investigating possible synaptic origins of this behavior and developing fractal stochastic point-process models to describe it. He is also studying a new class of neural-based psychophysical models that consider the ascending pathways of the auditory and visual systems in terms of amplifying neural networks. These models suggest that detection noise, and the origin of Weber's Law, most probably originates in the central neural network (i.e., as neural noise) rather than as a result of stimulus fluctuations or noise associated with transduction mechanisms at the sensory periphery. Finally, he is developing a quantum-optical microscope that should be useful for carrying out high-resolution fluorescence studies in the neurosciences.

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)

Research Interests: Professor Vaina's main areas of current interest involve: (a) Visual motion analysis in the human brain based on computational, psychophysical and neuroimaging methods; (b) Perceptual learning and plasticity in the human visual cortex: psychophysics and neuronal network models; (c) structural and functional neuroimaging applied to diagnosis, evaluation of the effect of treatment, surgical planing and anatomical localization of vision mechanisms involved in perception and learning.

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; 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
Associate 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.

JUDITH SCHOTLAND
Assistant Professor; PhD, Northwestern University

Research Interests: The role of spinal neural networks in the organization of movements. Research uses complementary in vitro and in vivo neurophysiological, pharmacological, and anatomical techniques in simple vertebrate model systems to elucidate the neuronal mechanisms and networks responsible for the control of coordinated movements.

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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

M. CARTER CORNWALL
Professor; PhD, University of Utah

Research Interests: The Cornwall laboratory studies the mechanisms of visual transduction that relate to light- and dark-adaptation in the vertebrate retina. Specific areas of study are: mechanisms of visual pigment regeneration and dark adaptation of rods and cones; retinoid transport during light and dark adaptation; role of interphotoreceptor matrix retinoid binding protein (IRBP); calcium homeostasis during light- and dark-adaptation. Techniques used routinely in the lab are: extracellular single cell electrical recordings of rods and cones, microspectrophotometry of visual pigments, whole-cell voltage clamp recording (in collaboration with Dr. Hugh Matthews, University of Cambridge, England), and single cell confocal calcium imaging (in collaboration with Dr. Gordon Fain, UCLA).

J. FERNANDO GARCIA-DIAZ
Associate Professor; PhD, Universidad de Malaga, Spain

Research Interests: Electrophysiology of membrane transport; expression and regulation of ion channels; development of cochlear ganglion neurons.

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.

SIMON LEVY
Associate Professor; PhD, Boston University

Research Interests: In many nerve cells, transient increases in intracellular free calcium concentrations (Cai) are caused primarily by influx through voltage-dependent calcium channels. Second messengers like inositol trisphosphate (InsP3) also have the ability to increase Cai through release from intracellular stores, or gating of calcium channels. The long-term goal of the Levy laboratory is to investigate mechanisms by which second messengers modulate the excitability of nerve cells by controlling their membrane permeability. The lab has developed suitable technologies to: i) measure single-channel activities; ii) simultaneously measure changes in intracellular calcium and membrane currents; iii) pressure-inject pharmacological agents to investigate putative pathways involved in neuronal excitability. The combination of these electrophysiological and pharmacological techniques has proven useful in gathering new and important information about nerve cell function.

There are four main projects: 1. Intracellular calcium regulation and detection in nerve cells. Effects of second messengers on internal calcium and membrane currents in nerve cells. 2. Role of calcium-induced calcium release in the excitability of the peptidergic neurons of Aplysia californica. 3. Role of calcium and inositol trisphosphate in phototransduction in Limulus photoreceptors. 4. Genetic Dissociation of phototransduction in Drosophila photoreceptors.

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PSYCHOLOGY

MICHAEL HASSELMO
Professor of Physiology; 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.

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