REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

• Regenerative Effects of Human B-Nerve Growth Factor (B-NGF) on the Swimming Behavior of Hirudo medicinalis
• Effect of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) on Long-Term Facilitation in Aplysia californica
• Establishing a Four-Directional Mechanism Control for a Neural-Directed Wheelchair
• Neurotoxic Effect of Dimethyl Disulfide on Gromphadorhina portentosa
• Generating Music through the Conscious Control of μ Rhythm and a Brain-Computer-Machine Interface

SPECIALIZED
EQUIPMENT

EEG cap and amplifier

Electrophysiological amplifier

Suction electrodes

Surgical dissection tools

High-powered dissecting stereoscope

CONTRIBUTORS

University of Virginia

University of Maryland

Neuroscience

Focus:

This lab currently focuses on three general areas of neuroscience research: neurorobotics, electrophysiology, and neuroinformatics. In neurorobotics brainwave signals from an electroencephalographic system are used to generate electrical signals that control mechanical or electronic devices. These brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) generally use MatLab to analyze the signals and LabVIEW to implement the conversion of brainwave data to electrical commands. Electrophysiological experiments include the investigation of nerve activity regeneration in the medicinal leech, analysis of the neural basis of behavior in crayfish, the neural control mechanism of the posterior cerci in the Madagascar hissing cockroach, memory mechanisms in sea slugs, and computational analysis of EEG data.