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 AND STAFF
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
Irene Lerman, MS
Clinical Research Coordinator
Sonika Agarwal, BS
Research Coordinator
CONTRIBUTING SCIENTISTS
Victoria Peterson, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow
Instituto de Matemática Aplicada del Litoral, UNL-CONICET
Ashley Walton, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow
Cognitive Science Program, Dartmouth College
Nathan Sisterson, MD
Neurosurgery Resident, MGH
AREAS OF INVESTIGATION
PAGes
under
construction
Basal Ganglia-Basal Ganglia-Cortical Dynamics in Human Behavior
Intraoperatively, we collect task-based, simultaneously recorded cortical ECoG and subcortical MER/LFP data to study interactions between the cortex and basal ganglia that code for specific components of motor action.
BRAIN Initiative-funded Project:
Closed-Loop DBS for Parkinson's Disease
BRAIN Initiative-funded Project:
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