Assistant Professor Of Neuroscience
CurrentPrimary Project) I conduct preclinical and clinical Neuromodulation research using Central Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation (CT-DBS) to uncover the neural mechanisms of arousal regulation within the anterior forebrain 'Mesocircuit' (AFM), which consists of multiple interconnected areas of the prefrontal cortex, striatum, thalamus and brainstem. We use conventional and novel modes of CT-DBS ('field-shaping' CT-DBS) to casually influence neuronal activity in subjects performing complex cognitive… Show more Primary Project) I conduct preclinical and clinical Neuromodulation research using Central Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation (CT-DBS) to uncover the neural mechanisms of arousal regulation within the anterior forebrain 'Mesocircuit' (AFM), which consists of multiple interconnected areas of the prefrontal cortex, striatum, thalamus and brainstem. We use conventional and novel modes of CT-DBS ('field-shaping' CT-DBS) to casually influence neuronal activity in subjects performing complex cognitive and memory tasks. This approach allows us to rapidly prototype novel bidirectional devices with the goal of near-term translation of clinical-grade Neuromodulation devices for moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (msTBI) patients and further etiologies. We're funded by the Daedalus Fund for Innovation (http://weill.cornell.edu/daedalusfund/), the CASBI center (https://casbi.weill.cornell.edu/our-labs/laboratory-cognitive-neuromodulation) and NIH-NINDS (https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-NS111019-01A1)Secondary Project) We're testing several hypotheses about visual information processing within large-scale populations of neurons of the Striate and Extrastriate Cortices (V1-V4) during active visual processing of Isodipole Textures, Pareidolia and Natural Scenes. The goal is to determine how visual sensory 'information' contained in the spiking and local field potential (LFP) activity is represented and transformed as it flows between primary and secondary visual cortical areas in awake and engaged subjects. Specifically, we are exploring the role of fixational eye movements (FEM) in the representation of visual information within areas V1-V4 under an NIH-NEI R01 grant (2022-2026) (https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R21-EY028336-02). This approach may uncover novel mechanisms of vision that may lead to novel visual prosthetic devices and artificial vision. http://brainandmind.weill.cornell.edu/lab/victor-laboratoryhttp://brainandmind.weill.cornell.edu/lab/purpura-laboratory Show less
