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Systems Neural Engineering Laboratory
The Systems Neural Engineering Lab.
Welcome to the Systems Neural Engineering Laboratory of the University of California Riverside. Our research group uses neurophysiological, functional neuroimaging and computational methods to elucidate the brain mechanisms underlying motor control, decision-making and learning, and translate this understanding in brain-based therapies.
The first in-human functional ultrasound imaging of the spinal cord
Announcements
Our work in functional ultrasound imaging was featured on the cover of Neuron (May 5 issue). It is is an artist's representation of the cerebral vascular tree, with digital leaves reflecting sound waves containing information about cognitive states. Artwork by Holly Sullivan for Maayan Visuals
March 2024: The functional ultrasound imaging study in the human spinal cord is published online in Neuron
December 2023: Our work on functional ultrasound imaging of the human spinal cord was accepted for publication to Neuron!!!
December 2023: Kofi Agyeman successfully defended his PhD thesis. Congratulations to Dr. Agyeman.
November 2023: Our lab participated to the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2023 with 4 abstracts (Washington, DC).
October 2023: Sofia and Kofi presented their work on how the spinal cord encodes micturition in humans and animals at the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) 2023, Seattle, WA.
August 2023: Great news! We received the notice of award (NOA) from NIH for our U01 grant proposal.
June 2023: Vasileios was invited to give a talk at Organization for Computational Neuroscience (CNS) 223, Leipzig, Germany (workshop: Neuro-Inspired Topology and Machine Learning)
May 2023: Vasileios was invited to give a talk at the Physics for Medicine, Paris "Functional ultrasound imaging in neurosurgery"
March 2023: Vasileios was invited to give a talk at the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory "Functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI): A revolutionary technology to study the nervous system"
February 2023: Vasileios was invited to give a talk at the Statistics and Data Science seminar of the Mathematics department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville "Functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI): A revolutionary technology to study the nervous system"
February 2023: Vasileios was invited to give a talk at the Astronomy colloquium "New Era in Science and Engineering of the Brain: Neuromodulation Treatments for Neurological Disorders"
January 2023: We are going to COSYNE!! Our work in modeling switching of actions has been accepted. Congrats Shan!
January 2023: Our lab was awarded an NIH pilot grant #P2CHD101899 (NICHD and NINDS) to perform functional ultrasound imaging in full-term and at risk (i.e., early pre-term infants). The goal is to assess the brain mechanisms of motor control in infants and to detect potential differences in the functional organization of the motor system between full-term and at-risk infants.
https://www.sralab.org/research/labs/cstar/news/2022-awardee-vasileios-n-christopoulos-phd
November 2022: New paper in modeling the mechanisms on action regulation in neurotypical and Parkinson's disease (PD) patients is out. Congrats Shan!
https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010111
November 2022: New pre-print on ultrasonic brain-machine interface (collaboration with Caltech).
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.10.515371v1
October 2022: Vasileios is an invited keynote speaker to UCR Citizens University Committee - CUC - meeting
June 2022: Vasileios is awarded the Hellman Fellowship for the academic year 2022-2023. The Society of Hellman Fellows is an endowed program at the University of California (UC) that provides research funding to promising assistant professors who show capacity for great distinction in their research!
June 2022: Vasileios is an invited keynote speaker to international workshop “Functional ultrasound imaging of the brain”: fUSbrain2022
April 2022: IRB at the UC Riverside for studying action regulation functions is approved!
April 2022: New pre-print on modeling the computations of inhibitory control in neurotypical and Parkinson's disease patient is out. Congrats Shan!
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.20.488864v1.full
March 2022: Kofi has received a UC Dissertation-Year Fellowship award for the 2022-23 academic year! Congrats Kofi
February 2022: Kofi received a travel grant of $1,000 from COSYNE to attend the annual meeting in Portugal! Congrats Kofi
December 2021: Vasileios is a Co-Investigator in 2 new neuroscience grants from the National Institutes of Health's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. Excellent news!
September 2021: Kofi passed his quals! Congrats Kofi
June 2021: Shan passed his quals! Congrats Shan!
October 2021: New publication in understanding the mechanisms of motor decision with V Enachescu, P Schrater and S Schaal is out in PLoS Computational Biology
Caltech News: Reading Minds with Ultrasound: A Less-Invasive Technique to Decode the Brain's Intentions
May 2021: New publication in functional ultrasound imaging with Caltech team (S Norman, D Maresca, W Griggs, M Shapiro and R Andersen) and the Inserm Institute team in France (C Demene, M Tanter) for reading the mind of non-human primates is out in Neuron
March 2021: IRB at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles for functional ultrasound imaging in infants was approved! We will image the infant brain.
Highlights
- May 2021: New publication in functional ultrasound imaging for reading the mind of non-human primates is out in Neuron
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