Research

Bijanki Lab Projects

Master
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Developing novel targets for neural stimulation therapies: We apply a variety of stimulation-based research paradigms in patients with epilepsy and depression undergoing intracranial monitoring, with the goals of mapping network dynamics underlying emotional phenomena and modulating them in a targeted way using electrical neurostimulation. Of particular interest for stimulation, we study the cingulum bundle, the cingulate cortex, the amygdala, and the insula, among other emotionally-active structures. 

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Advanced surgical neuroimaging
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Advanced surgical neuroimaging: We use cutting-edge neuroimaging techniques to visualize and quantify the neural networks involved in affect in our human participants, and to integrate this spatial information with electrophysiological signatures activated during particular processes or by stimulation. We use advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques to resolve in particular the white matter fibers connecting affective network regions, and use this information to inform neurosurgical targeting, and to further explore the constructs of structural, functional, and effective neural connectivity.

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Auditory Oddball: The oddball paradigm is classically utilized to examine salience processing, or the ability to identify and orient towards important environmental stimuli. The task itself consists of the repeated presentation of the same ‘standard’ stimulus, randomly interleaved with a different ‘oddball’ stimulus, where the oddball stimulus is known to elicit distinct physiological responses in both the central and peripheral nervous system. Using simple auditory sounds combined with neural recordings, pupillometry, and peripheral nervous system tracking, we are able to elicit salience responses to examine how this essential sensory processing mechanism might be altered in mood disorders such as depression.