Our Connections

Siddhartha Sikdar works on novel imaging methods to understand interactions between sensorimotor, musculoskeletal, and cardiovascular systems, with applications in a number of clinical conditions of major public health significance, such as chronic pain, stroke, spinal cord injury, and amputation. Sikdar has ongoing funded projects with Brajesh Lal at the VA Medical Center in Baltimore, Nitin Sharma at the University of Pittsburgh, and Alexander Dromerick at the National Rehabilitation Hospital. He has active collaborations with investigators at a number of other institutions including the National Institutes of Health.

Parag Chitnis uses ultrasound, light, and nanoparticles to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic applications, such as photoacoustic sensing of brain activity and wireless control of implantable hydrogel devices for localized drug delivery. Chitnis collaborates with researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, Yale University, Boston University, University at Oxford, and the University of Virginia on a variety of projects involving noninvasive imaging, thermal therapy, and drug delivery.

Juan Raul Cebral uses image-based patient-specific computational modeling to study cerebral aneurysms and stroke with the objective of improving the management of patients with these diseases, as well as improving medical devices and procedures used to treat these patients. Cebral collaborates with researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, Kuopio University Hospital in Finland, Mayo Clinic, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Allegheny General Hospital, the University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Massachusetts, Clinica ENERI in Argentina, the University of Antioquia in Colombia, and Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Spain.

Qi Wei works on novel and realistic biomechanical models of the oculomotor system and musculoskeletal systems. She closely works with clinicians in developing clinical data-driven models, hoping the research outcomes will shed light on clinically important problems. Wei works with Joseph Demer at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA on biomechanical simulation of strabismus. She also collaborates with Abbas Shobeiri at Inova on ultrasound imaging and biomechanical modeling of pelvic floor dysfunctions, and Matthew Tresch at Northwestern University on the computational modeling of rat hind-limb biomechanics.

Giorgio Ascoli is a leading pioneer in neuroinformatics and computational neuroanatomy. His lab is collecting and organizing massive amounts of experimental data in order to create biologically realistic, cellular-level, real-scale simulations of entire portions of the mammalian brain. Ascoli collaborates with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia, the Allen Institute, University of Southern California, University of California, Irvine, and Northrop Grumman on projects ranging from a comprehensive map of all neuron types in the mammalian nervous system to the design of brain-inspired algorithms for artificial intelligence.

Nathalia Peixoto works with neural interfaces and assistive technology. Her lab focuses on applying engineering principles to neurobiological problems. Peixoto has collaborations with the electrical engineering and biology departments at Old Dominion University on brain-computer interfaces and stem cell electrophysiology and with Ethan Cohen's lab at the Food and Drug Administration on the safety of retinal implants.

Holger Dannenberg: The ultimate goal of the lab is to understand neural mechanisms of spatial memory and navigation that are often impaired in various neurological disorders. The multi-disciplinary research on brain mechanisms combines the expertise of biologists, electrical engineers, life scientists, physicists, and computer scientists. The lab records neurons in the brain’s spatial cognition and memory system, including grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex, and investigates the functions and mechanisms of network rhythms as well as cholinergic neuromodulation in the context of memory-guided navigation. Visit dannenberglab.org to learn more about this research or to connect with the lab. Principal investigator: 

Caroline Hoemann is developing new tissue engineering models to study innate immune responses in sterile and non-sterile inflammation. Her lab is using transcriptomics and big data computational approaches to identify inflammatory response patterns in blood cells that are associated with severe COVID-19 disease, in collaboration with Dr. Virginia Espina at George Mason University, Dr. Allan Doctor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and Prof. Kylene Kehn-Hall at Virginia Tech. She is also investigating, with Dr. Robert McCormack at the University of British Columbia, how inflammatory cytokines coax synovial cells from injured knees to produce higher levels of hyaluronic acid, a chondroprotective sugar polymer that is naturally occurring in the joint fluid.

Remi Veneziano has designed a new class of 3D DNA-based nanoparticles that can be used to precisely control the nanoscale organization of biomolecules. His lab is using this technology to develop new vaccine platforms for infectious diseases and novel biomaterials to control cell behaviors. Veneziano collaborates with the BRL at Mason, Children's National, and Johns Hopkins University.

Laurence Bray specializes in engineering education and has expertise in the fundamentals of neuroscience using computational, experimental, and behavioral approaches. Bray collaborates with clinicians at Fairfax INOVA Health System on a variety of educational and research initiatives.

Shani Ross is an instructional faculty in the department whose interests are in neural modulation, neural interfaces, and undergraduate education. Ross collaborates with Mason's Department of Global and Community Health.