The U.T. BRAIN initiative funds $20 million in support of a virtual U.T. System Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Research Institute.

The institute’s purpose is to promote trans-disciplinary, multi-institutional research projects focused on neuroscience and neurotechnology challenges that will transform the fields of imaging, neurocomputation, and molecular mapping; the development of neuro-devices; and basic/translational/clinical investigations in intractable neurological diseases.

 

 

Web Information

Website:  utsystem.edu/sites/neuroscience/ut-system-neuroscience-institute neUroTransmitter Blog:  utsystem.edu/sites/neuroscience/blog

Contact Information

Email: Tom Jacobs tjacobs@utsystem.edu or Andrew Hughes anhughes@utsystem.edu

Organization

Advisory Board Neuroscience Council Working Groups

Background

The BRAIN Initiative Fact Sheet 9/30/14

University of Texas System is announcing alignment of more than $20 million in equipment, faculty resources, and seed grants with the goals of the BRAIN Initiative:

In 2013, the University of Texas (UT) System organized a multi-campus Neuroscience Council in response to the BRAIN Initiative. The Council brings together top researchers from UT’s 15 academic and health institutions to explore new convergent research that takes advantage of faculty expertise in disciplines such as engineering, computer science, mathematics, materials science, physics, and chemistry, along with cutting-edge resources such as the 10-petaflop supercomputer at UT Austin. The UT System has also created a Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Research Institute that ...

Principal Investigators: Behnaam Aazhang, PhD – Rice and Nitin Tandon, MD – UT Health Title: Micro-scale Real-time Decoding and Closed-loop Modulation of Human Language BRAIN Category: Neuroengineering and Brain-inspired concepts and design

The engineering objective is to develop biocompatible microchips to vastly enhance our insight into language and other cognitive processes and learning. Miniaturized microchips in silicon technology will be developed that can record neural signals, digitize them, and transmit the signals to an in vitro receiver wirelessly.

Abstract

Award Number: #1533688

Humans produce language, which is a defining characteristic of our species and our civilization. We can select words precisely out of a large lexicon with remarkably low error rates. It is perhaps not surprising that this complex speech production system is easily affected by disease. Brain damage induced language disorders affect millions of Americans, and there is little hope of remediation. Research on the anatomical, physiological, and computational bases of speech production has made important strides in recent years but this has been limited by a glaring lack of information on the dynamics of the process. This limitation results from the low spatio-temporal resolution of the available tools to collect data and the effectiveness of the current tools for analysis. Our driving vision ...

 

Associate Professor, The Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery Principal Investigator, Neuroimaging and Electrophysiology Lab

Dr. Tandon has co-authored many studies, which have been published in NeuroImage, Journal of Neurosurgery, Clinical Neurosurgery and Human Brain Mapping. His current research studies include “The localization of eloquent cortex using functional imaging and using diffusion tensor imaging tractography” and “The electrophysiological characteristics of language regions.”

Web Information

Department webpage: med.uth.edu/neurosurgery/faculty/nitin-tandon/

Neuroimaging and Electrophysiology Lab website: tandonlab.org/

Contact Information

Email: Adriana.Garza@uth.tmc.edu (Administrative Assistant)

Phone: 713.704.7100

Address: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT HOUSTON 6431 FANNIN STREET, SUITE MSB G550D HOUSTON, TX 77030

 

Biography

Education & Training

Graduate School: Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, India Internship: Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota Residency: The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas Fellowship: University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (Neurosurgery) Fellowship: Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio (Epilepsy) Post Doctorate: The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas (Human Neuroimaging)

Clinical Interests

Epilepsy surgery including placement of subdural grid electrodes, amygdalo-hippocampectomy, anterior temporal lobectomy, neo-cortical resections Brain mapping and awake craniotomies Brain tumor surgery, including: tumors in speech and motor cortex, insular tumors, intra-ventricular tumors, pineal tumors, pituitary and para-sellar tumors Cavernous malformation (cavernoma) surgery Micro-vascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia General Neurosurgery

Research Interests

Brain mapping with functional MRI, electrical stimulation and diffusion tractography Intra-cranial electrophysiology

OnAir Post: Nitin Tandon, MD – UT Health