USC researchers develop tools to simplify the interpretation of brain images

BrainSuite opens the door for sophisticated large-scale studies

BY Natalia Velez MARCH 22, 2016

BrainSuite allows users to automatically identify specific areas in the brain and to track changes over time. (Photo/National Institutes of Health)

Cognitive neuroscientists, clinicians and researchers rely on brain imaging to unlock the secrets of the functioning brain.

Richard Leahy and his team at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering are developing new methods to merge images of the brain’s anatomy, connectivity and function and then extracting key details from these complex data sets.

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Meet the 2015 Science & Eppendorf Prize for Neurobiology Winners - Apply Now for 2016!

The Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology acknowledges the increasingly active and important role of neurobiology in advancing our understanding of the functioning of the brain and the nervous system -- a quest that seems destined for dramatic expansion in the coming decades. This international prize, established in 2002, encourages the work of promising young neurobiologists by providing support in the early stages of their careers.

It is awarded annually for the most outstanding neurobiological research based on methods of molecular and cell biology by a young scientist of 35 years of age or younger, as described in a 1,000-word essay based on research performed during the past three years.

The winner of the Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology is awarded US$25,000 and publication of his or her essay in Science. The essay and those of up to three finalists are also published on Science Online. The award is announced and presented at a ceremony concurrent with the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in the USA. Eppendorf provides financial support to help enable the grand prize winner and finalists to attend the event.

Watch this video to learn about the 2015 Winners and their research.

Click here to enter your research now!

Engineering & Neuroscience Health Seminar | "Decoding motor imagery from posterior parietal cortex in tetraplegic humans"

Dr. Richard Andersen
California Institute of Technology

Monday,  April 13th 2015

3:50 p.m.

Host: Prof. Francisco Valero-Cuevas

Seminar is simultaneously presented

UPC: RTH 217 - Live ** Note new location**

UPC Campus Map/Directions: http://www.usc.edu/about/visit/upc/

HSC: CHP 147 - Video Conference 

Center for the Health Professional

HSC Campus Map/Directions: http://www.usc.edu/about/visit/hsc/

About the speaker: Professor Andersen studies the neurobiological underpinnings of brain processes including the senses of sight, hearing, balance and touch, the neural mechanisms of action, and the development of neural prosthetics. He has trained 60 postdoctoral and doctoral students who now work in academia and industry; 35 currently hold tenure or tenure track faculty positions at major research universities throughout the world. He has published approximately 140 technical articles and edited two books.

Education. Andersen obtained a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of California, San Francisco with thesis advisor Michael Merzenich, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow with Vernon Mountcastle at the Johns Hopkins Medical School. He was Assistant and Associate Professor at the Salk Institute, Associate and Full Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT and is currently the James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience in the Biology Division at Caltech.

Societies and Awards. Andersen is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Associate of the Neuroscience Research Program, and Member of the International Neuropsychological Symposium. He is the recipient of a McKnight Foundation Scholars Award, a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Spencer Award from Columbia University, a McKnight Technical Innovation in Neuroscience Award, and a McKnight Neuroscience Brain Disorders Award.

Service. Andersen has served as a member of the International Neural Network Board of Directors, Director of the McDonnell/Pew Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at MIT, Director of the Sloan-Swartz Center for Theoretical Neurobiology, regular member of the Vision B and COG Study Sections at NIH, Chair of the COG Study Section, Chair of Section 3 (Anatomy, Neurobiology, Physiological and Pharmacological Sciences) of the Institute of Medicine, and Visiting Professor at the College de France.