Rex Tien Email and Phone Number

Working with neurosurgeon Dr. Daniel Kramer and clinical electrophysiologist Dr. John Thompson, I use cognitive and motor tasks with neurosurgery patients to uncover the functional properties of deep brain structures at a single-neuron level. I work with movement disorder patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery to discover how basal ganglia and thalamic areas work to control naturalistic reaching movements. I also work with epilepsy patients undergoing epilepsy monitoring to study how temporal lobe areas process and produce emotional facial expressions, and study the role of attention in processing emotional stimuli.

Department of Bioengineering • Designed and conducted three novel experiments investigating the effect of object affordance context on the cortical representations of reaching, grasping and manipulation in non-human primates; analyzed high-dimensional spiking neural data from multiple frontoparietal areas, kinematic motion capture data, EMG, and force sensor data using advanced statistics and machine learning techniques. • Invented and implemented a novel inexpensive invasive cortical microelectrode array implant guidance system leveraging MRI, CAD, CAM and 3D printing; planned and performed implant neurosurgeries. • Engineered an automated adaptive training algorithm to train a naive subject to use a robotic arm neuroprosthetic brain computer interface. • Characterized long-term learning in brain computer interface control of a computer cursor with a perturbed output mapping.

Ophthalmic Biophysics Center • Developed software to simulate Hartmann-Shack autorefractor images • Developed software to quickly and accurately extract wavefront aberration information from autorefractor images using Fourier analysis • Fabricated an autorefractor mount for use during human lens replacement (phaco-ersatz) surgery

Advisor: Elie Bou-Zeid