BRAIN MODULATION LAB
HUMAN SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE
The Brain Modulation Lab was founded at the University of Pittsburgh in 2011 and moved to the MGH in 2019. We are a human systems neuroscience lab studying brain electrophysiology and behavior in patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy, movement disorders, and psychiatric disease. The goal of our work is to facilitate the development and optimization of electrical and biological brain modulation therapies, by filling critical gaps in our understanding of human brain function.
PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATOR
Mark Richardson, MD, PhD, FAANS
Director of Functional Neurosurgery, MGH
Charles Pappas Associate Professor of Neurosciences, Harvard Medical School
Visiting Associate Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
FACULTY SCIENTISTS
Vasileios Kokkinos, PhD
Instructor in Neurosurgery, MGH
Harvard Medical School
Alan Bush, PhD
Instructor in Neurosurgery, MGH
Harvard Medical School
Varun Saravanan, PhD
Data Scientist
MGH-MIT inBRAIN Collaboration
CONTRIBUTING SCIENTISTS
Victoria Peterson, PhD
Harvard Research Fellow
Brain Modulation Lab
Ashley Walton, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow
Cognitive Science Program, Dartmouth
Nathan Sisterson, MD
Neurosurgery Resident, MGH
STAFF
Irene Lerman, MS
Clinical Research Coordinator
Sonika Agarwal, BS
Research Coordinator
CLINICAL SUPPORT
Nora Daly, MSHS, PA-C
Physician Assistant
MGH Functional Neurosurgery
AREAS OF INVESTIGATION
Basal Ganglia-Cortical Dynamics in Human Behavior
Intraoperatively, we collect simultaneously recorded cortical ECoG, subcortical MER/LFP, and behavioral data to study interactions between the cortex and basal ganglia that encode specific components of motor control.
BRAIN Initiative-funded Project:
Closed-Loop DBS for Parkinson's Disease
BRAIN Initiative-funded Project:
in collaboration with ICNeuromodulation Neumann Group (Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin)
Brain Stimulation for Epilepsy
The lab's initial work involved sensing-enabled DBS (PC+S and RC+S) in a nonhuman primate with idiopathic epilepsy. Subsequently, in order to better understand data recorded during responsive neurostimulation in our epilepsy patients, we built BRAINStim, a platform for Biophysically Rational Analysis and Informed Stimulation.
Thier Building, 4th floor
Massachusetts General Hospital
50 Blossom St.
Boston, MA 02114