Seminar by Prof. Ranganatha Sitaram (28 June, 10am - 11.30am @ TR+20, North Spine NS4 Level 5 (NS4-05-98)

Topic: Multimodal Functional Brain Imaging and Neuromodulation in Pediatric Cancer

Abstract: This talk would outline and highlight the research activities conducted in Sitaram's Lab in characterizing and predicting the effect of cancer and cancer therapy on sensory, perceptual, cognitive, and emotional aspects of brain function and behavior and for developing interventions with brain modulation and stimulation techniques to reverse the adverse cognitive effect of pediatric cancer. This new program would heavily rely on the application of multimodal functional brain imaging, which requires highly sophisticated imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), electro/magnetoencephalography (EEG/MEG) and brain stimulation combined with novel experimental paradigms. In addition, novel computational neuroscience and artificial intelligence methods, including functional and effective connectivity, causality modeling, real-time imaging, brain-computer interfaces, neurofeedback, and focused ultrasound brain stimulation would be key tools for scientific investigation and translational intervention in this new research program.

Biography: Ranganatha Sitaram is a full professor in the Diagnostic Imaging Department and Director of Multimodal Functional Brain Imaging and Neurorehabilitation. Ranga conducts research in the interdisciplinary areas of cognitive neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and computational intelligence. Ranga has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from India and a PhD in neuroscience with Summa Cum Laude from the Karls-Erberhard University of Tubingen (Germany). Ranga has wide international experience: After completing his post-doctoral research stints at the Max Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics, Ranga worked in several faculty positions, including at the University of Tubingen, the University of Florida in Gainesville (USA), the Pontificia Universidad in Santiago (Chile), and visiting professorships at the Wyss Center for Neuro & Bio Engineering in Geneva (Switzerland) and the Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Biomedical Sciences (India). Before these positions, Ranga worked for 12 years in Singapore, in various scientific leadership roles, at the Information Technology Institute, the Institute for Infocomm Research, and the Kent Ridge Digital Labs, on several topics, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, distributed software architectures, and Neuroinformatics. Ranga also co-founded a technology startup in sentient computing in Singapore. Ranga has authored over 100 scientific and technical articles, 15 international patents, and 2 edited books. Ranga has received the following awards: the Indian Prime Minister´s Special Award called Vajra for Visiting Professorship in Neuroscience, the BrainChile Prize for Neurorehab Technologies, a technology spinoff company, the Best Research Award: ¨Neural mechanism of brain self-regulation¨, the International Conference on Real-time Functional Imaging and Neurofeedback, the Indian President’s Award of Visiting Professorship in Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, and the Infocomm Development Authority (Singapore) Award for the development of a suite of products and services based on intelligent wireless technology. Ranga’s research program at St. Jude integrates multimodal functional brain imaging with experimental and computational neuroscience techniques to understand and characterize adverse changes in brain function and network dynamics due to pediatric catastrophic diseases and its treatment and to innovate novel techniques of neurorehabilitation to mitigate the effects.

Host: Prof. Guan Cuntai