current lab members
hover over contact details
-
Dr. Neeraj Gandhi
Our research explores how the same population of neurons can multiplex numerous dimensions of information, and what algorithms limit the decoding to a certain subset of dimensions. We are also interested in principles of neuronal communication. We address these topics using a combination of experimental paradigms, including brain-computer interface, and computational methods in the context of sensation, cognition, and action.
-
Dr. Clara Bourrelly
I am interested in the neural mechanisms underlying gaze orientation.
Postdoctoral student
Dept. of Bioengineering
clara.bourrelly.int@gmail.com
-
Ivan Smalianchuk
My research focuses on general gaze-shift control. This includes expploring the mechanisms by which SC provides instantaneous control of saccade dynamics. Additionally, I investigate cortical control of eye-head movements.
Graduate Student
Dept. of Bioengineering
ivs4@pitt.edu
-
Kevin Mohsenian
My project is focused on understanding the behavior of saccades that intercept moving targets, and the underlying neural correlates for these movements. Specifically, I'm recording and analyzing superior colliculus (SC) data, and developing 3-D population models to define the spatiotemporal dynamics that drive interceptive saccades. The impact of this work resides in the ability to potentially elucidate the mechanism of how downstream structures in the oculomotor system (i.e. paramedian pontine reticular formation ) encode SC population activity..
-
Michelle Heusser
Michelle's research focuses on the characterization of the activity patterns produced by simultaneously-recorded populations of neurons in the superior colliculus using a low-dimensional state-space methodology. Currently, she is investigating the temporal evolution of these neural signatures during the delay period of a delayed saccade task, with the primary aim of determining the time course by which populations encode visual, motor, and various cognitive signals. Michelle received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Arizona in 2015 and is a PhD Candidate in Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh.
-
Keerthana Manikandan
Graduate Student
Dept. of Bioengineering
-
Feiran Yang
Graduate Student
Dept. of Bioengineering
-
Eve Ayar
Eve’s research efforts concern characterizing the time-course of the transition from sensory to motor bursts. She uses dimensionality reduction methods to visualize retained latent dimensions in state space to determine if the population responses of different paradigms occupy the same visual and motor subspaces. Similar occupancy patterns would imply that downstream structures do not differentiate between the behavioral tasks when processing the visual and motor signals. Eve is currently an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing a B.S. in neuroscience with minors in computer science and chemistry.
Undergraduate Student
Dept. of Neuroscience
eca23@pitt.edu