Research Areas
Systems Neuroscience
The human brain, perhaps the greatest
and most complicated learning system,
exercises control over virtually every
aspect of our behavior. The systems
neuroscience area is dedicated to
understanding the brain’s architecture
and how it learns and controls a variety
of functions. Spurred by dramatic
advances in experimental methods
over the past decade, investigators in
this area attempt to produce quantitative models of information coding and
processing in neural systems.
As descriptions of the physiology,
architecture and communication
patterns of neurons become more
detailed, researchers must integrate
these data into comprehensive models
that can be used to explore the
properties of neural systems and,
eventually, explain behavior. Hopkins
faculty research interests span a range
of experimental and theoretical
approaches to studying neural
information processing and to
developing innovative diagnostic
and therapeutic technologies.
Research being conducted in
Systems Neuroscience includes:
- Astudy of the brain mechanisms that control movements of the upper limb, which is rooted in robotics and mathematical descriptions of how to move a limb. Researchers study motor control learning, effects of diseases on the computation that underlies this control system, and how neurophysiology
of motor control relates to these computations.
- Analyzing the properties of nerve cells in the spinal cord, which are likely to cause dangerous episodes of high blood pressure after spinal cord injury, and how technology can be used to prevent these episodes.
- Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying speech perception in the auditory system and using the principles of neural processing in designing intelligent human-to-machine communication and prosthetic devices, such as hearing aids. Results will advance understanding not only of how the
brain processes speech and speech-like sounds in adulthood, but also how the nervous system underlies the ability to acquire such complex tasks through learning.
- Developing new technologies to diagnose and treat brain injury, stroke and epilepsy along with advanced approaches to neural prosthesis, neuroanesthesia and neurosurgery. Technologies under development include: brain-computer interfaces, neural signal acquisition and analysis to control
prostheses, Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) circuits for sensing and imaging the brain, microfabricated and microfluidic chambers for developing neural networks in vitro, optical laser speckle brain and microvessel imaging, and real-time neurological monitoring instrumentation for neurocritical
care and surgery.
Faculty working in this areaAngelo All M.D., M.B.A. Xiaofeng Jia M.D., Ph.D. Murray Sachs Ph.D. Sridevi Sarma Ph.D. Lawrence Schramm Ph.D. Reza Shadmehr Ph.D. Nitish Thakor Ph.D. Ramana Vinjamuri Ph.D. Xiaoqin Wang Ph.D. In-Hong Yang Ph.D. Eric Young Ph.D. Kechen Zhang Ph.D. BME labs working in this areaCenter for Hearing and Balance Laboratory for Computational Motor Control Laboratory for Neuroengineering Laboratory of Auditory Neurophysiology Neuroengineering and Biomedical Instrumentation Spinal Cord Injury Laboratory Spinal Cord Neuroscience Laboratory Theoretical Neuroscience Laboratory
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