Please give a warm welcome to our new MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Researchers: Drs. Robert Lowe II, Madhuvanthi Kannan, Oscar Miranda-Dominguez, Ann Parr & Saydra Wilson.
Welcome to the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions team!
Visit our website to learn more about their work >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/people/researchers
MnDRIVE Brain Conditions recently participated in the Annual Minnesota Spring Parkinson’s Symposium, an educational and community-focused event jointly hosted by the University of Minnesota Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research, the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA), and the Parkinson’s Foundation. Held at North Heights Church in Arden Hills, the symposium brought together individuals living with Parkinson’s disease, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and community organizations for a day of learning, support, and connection.
The event brought together patients, caregivers, researchers, clinicians, and community organizations for a day focused on education, support, advocacy, and connection within the Parkinson’s community. We enjoyed speaking with attendees, sharing information about ongoing research initiatives, and highlighting opportunities for community engagement.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by our MnDRIVE Brain Conditions, M Health, and Udall tables throughout the day and to the organizers for hosting another impactful symposium supporting individuals and families affected by Parkinson’s disease.
Read more here >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/mndrive-brain-conditions-connects-parkinsons-community-minnesota-spring-parkinsons-symposium
#parkinsonsdisease #ParkinsonsFoundation #apdamn #mndrive #mndrivebrainconditions #universityofminnesota
MnDRIVE Brain Conditions had a wonderful time participating in the Parkinson’s Foundation Moving Day Twin Cities event on May 2! With beautiful weather and a fantastic community turnout, the event was a meaningful opportunity to connect with individuals, families, caregivers, advocates, and researchers supporting the Parkinson’s community.
Our team was excited to share information about ongoing research initiatives and community engagement opportunities. A special thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth and to Kaylee Lymon for keeping us fueled with coffee and puppy dog tails throughout the morning!
We’re grateful to the Parkinson’s Foundation for organizing another impactful Moving Day event that continues to raise awareness, foster connection, and support Parkinson’s research and care.
Read more here >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/mndrive-brain-conditions-joins-community-parkinsons-foundation-moving-day-twin-cities
#movingday #parkinsonsdisease #brainhealth #mndrive
#mndrivebrainconditions #parkinsonsresearch #universityofminnesota #ParkinsonsFoundation
Congratulations to MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Postdoctoral Fellow: Adriano Reimer, Ph.D.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Mentor: Alik Widge, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Project: Gamma Coordination and Avoidance: A Sex-Informed Neuromodulation Strategy
Dr. Adriano Reimer is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota studying the brain circuits that drive excessive avoidance, a disabling symptom in anxiety- and trauma-related disorders that is more common in women. Using a rat model of approach-avoidance conflict, he examines how the prefrontal cortex and amygdala coordinate during threat-related decisions. His work combines behavioral neuroscience, electrophysiology, and machine learning to identify neural signals linked to avoidance and to test whether deep brain stimulation can shift those signals toward healthier patterns. By comparing stimulation strategies and measuring how they affect brain circuit coordination in males and females, Dr. Reimer aims to advance more individualized, sex-informed neuromodulation therapies for psychiatric disorders.
Learn more about the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/
#mndrivebrainconditions #mndrive #neuromodulation
#universityofminnesota
Congratulations to MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Postdoctoral Fellow: Madelyn Hjort, Ph.D.
Department of Neuroscience
Mentor: Timothy Ebner, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience
Project: Cerebellar Neuromodulation to Enhance Cognitive Flexibility Behavior
Dr. Madelyn Hjort’s research focus is understanding how the brain represents cognitive flexibility, which is how we learn to change behavior. Her doctoral work focused on identifying, recording and activating cognitive flexibility circuitry in the prefrontal cortex. Dr. Hjort's current postdoctoral research has characterized flexibility representations within different regions of the posterior cerebellar cortex. As a MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Postdoctoral Fellow, she will test whether neuromodulation of the cerebellar cortex or cerebellar output nuclei can be used to promote cognitive flexibility, which is impaired in many neuropsychiatric disorders and does not currently have an effective treatment. By evaluating the utility of cerebellar neuromodulation to enhance cognitive flexibility, her work paves an important step towards modulatory interventions against cognitive inflexibility.
Learn more about the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/
#mndrivebrainconditions #mndrive #neuromodulation
#universityofminnesota
Congratulations to MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Postdoctoral Fellow: Malte Güth, Ph.D.
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Mentors: Alexander Opitz, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering & Kelvin O. Lim, M.D., Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Project: Personalized Closed-Loop Neuromodulation Targeting Prefrontal Circuit Dysfunction in Psychostimulant Use Disorder
Dr. Güth’s research probes the causal relationship of neural oscillations and human cognition to design personalized, closed-loop brain stimulation protocols. By developing novel tools for the real-time analysis of electroencephalography (EEG), he synchronizes transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to individual neural oscillations. Dr. Güth is currently applying this technology to investigate whether personalized repetitive TMS over the prefrontal cortex can aid the treatment of psychostimulant use disorder. This intervention tailors the timing of TMS to EEG rhythms reflecting cognitive functions involved in maladaptive behaviors, such as treatment dropout and relapse. By moving away from one-size-fits-all protocols and toward a mechanistic understanding of EEG oscillations, Dr. Güth aims to advance the impact of TMS and to strengthen the brain circuits that support recovery.
Learn more about the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/
#mndrivebrainconditions #mndrive #neuromodulation
#universityofminnesota
Congratulations to MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Graduate Fellow: Si-Yu Tsai
Family Medicine and Community Health
Mentor: Jacqueline Palmer, Ph.D., Family Medicine and Community Health
Project: Probing cerebellar contributions to balance adaptation in older adults using transcranial magnetic stimulation
Owing to its distinctive cytoarchitecture and dense neuroanatomical projections to the cerebral cortex, the aging cerebellum may have the potential to counteract age-related decline in the cerebral cortex and preserve behavioral function. Si-Yu Tsai's research aims to investigate the adaptive mechanisms in the cerebellum that enables older adults to rapidly adapt and learn their balance control. Using a multimodal approach that combines neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques (e.g., dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), TMS-electroencephalography (TMS-EEG), and intermittent theta burst stimulation), this project examines the role of cerebello-cortical functional connectivity in balance adaptation with aging. This work will provide novel insights into the adaptive brain mechanisms that may enable older adults to maintain balance during the advanced stages of aging, with the goal of preserving mobility and extending functional health span.
Learn more about the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/
#mndrivebrainconditions #mndrive #neuromodulation
#universityofminnesota
Congratulations to MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Graduate Fellow: Micaela Porod
Department of Neuroscience
Mentor: Nicola Grissom, Ph.D., Department of Psychology and Benjamin Saunders, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience
Project: Regulating explore-exploit balance through optogenetic modulation of functionally distinct dopamine circuits
Micaela's research focuses on how dopamine acts across distributed striatal circuits to regulate the balance between exploration and exploitation, a core component of adaptive decision making that is often dysregulated in mental health conditions. Striatal dopamine signaling regulates cognitive processes that are central for regulating explore-exploit balance, and dopaminergic dysfunction commonly underlies neuropsychiatric illness. While dopamine circuits represent a major therapeutic target, variability in treatment response highlights critical gaps in our mechanistic understanding of how dopamine shapes adaptive decision making. Dopamine is known to exhibit spatial, temporal, and functional heterogeneity across striatal subregions, suggesting that distinct striatal circuits may differentially mediate explore-exploit behavior. In this project, Micaela aims to parse the contributions of dopamine signaling in the nucleus accumbens and dorsomedial striatum using optogenetic manipulations in mice during a dynamic decision making task. Additionally, she will integrate advanced computational approaches to determine how individual differences in decision making strategies influence sensitivity to neuromodulation. Together, these studies will define how distinct striatal dopamine circuits regulate explore-exploit balance and identify individual factors that mediate responsiveness to circuit perturbation, providing a mechanistic basis for the development of targeted, more effective treatments to improve overall mental health outcomes.
Learn more about the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/
#mndrivebrainconditions #mndrive #neuromodulation
#universityofminnesota
Congratulations to MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Graduate Fellow: Brandon Hoang
Department of Neuroscience
Mentor: Esther Krook-Magnuson, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience & Tay Netoff, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering
Project: Neuromodulation for Seizure Risk Assessment
Brandon's research focuses on developing active neural probing methods to estimate seizure risk in real time, leveraging dynamical systems theory to characterize how brain networks transition toward seizures. Epilepsy affects roughly 50 million people worldwide, and approximately one-third remain refractory to existing therapies, in part because seizures appear to occur without warning. While passive monitoring has yielded some informative features, the brain's nonlinear dynamics suggest that actively perturbing the system may reveal latent markers of pre-ictal risk that passive recording cannot. In this project, Brandon develops chronic evoked-response pipelines in rodent models of temporal lobe epilepsy to identify perturbation-based pre-ictal biomarkers and characterize how the network evolves in the lead-up to seizures. He further aims to link evoked-response features to the underlying state for continuous seizure risk estimation. Together, these studies could improve risk assessment, accelerate therapeutic evaluation, and lay groundwork for intervention timed to periods of elevated risk, a step toward adaptive therapies for drug-resistant epilepsy.
Learn more about the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/
#mndrivebrainconditions #mndrive #neuromodulation
#universityofminnesota
Congratulations to MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Graduate Fellow: Crystal Clark
Department of Neuroscience
Mentor: Marija Cvetanovic, Ph.D. & Paul Mermelstein, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience
Project: The Effects of Optogenetic Modulation in the Cerebellum during Morphine Conditioned Place Preference
Research into opioid use disorder often focuses on brain regions traditionally associated with reward processing such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a midbrain area critically involved in dopamine signaling. Recent studies, however, have indicated the cerebellum likely plays a role in reward processing, with evidence of involvement in opioid use disorder. Deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) are the main output from the cerebellum and send glutamatergic projections to the VTA. While stimulation of this circuit has been shown to drive reinforcement behavior, it is not clear how DCN-VTA communication influences opioid seeking behavior. Crystal aims to determine how DCN-VTA activity influences development of morphine conditioned place preference using optogenetic neuromodulation during drug conditioning to inhibit DCN-VTA activity in mice. This work will contribute to understanding how cerebellar activity influences midbrain reward processing and further explore the cerebellum as a potential target for therapeutic interventions.
Learn more about the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/
#mndrivebrainconditions #mndrive #neuromodulation
#universityofminnesota
Congratulations to MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Graduate Fellow: Alishan Amirali
Department of Neuroscience
Mentor: Aaron Kerlin, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience
Project: Regulation of excitatory-inhibitory balance during motor behavior by neurogliaform interneurons
Alishan's research focuses on how a class of inhibitory neurons called NDNF interneurons regulate the balance of excitation and inhibition in the motor cortex during movement. In Parkinson's disease, the loss of dopamine destabilizes motor cortex activity, producing the disorganized firing patterns that underlie symptoms like tremor and bradykinesia. While deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus is an effective treatment, it can cause unwanted side effects like restlessness by indiscriminately suppressing subcortical motor circuits. NDNF interneurons are a promising alternative target because they naturally enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of motor commands through a dual-action mechanism by simultaneously suppressing noisy dendritic input to pyramidal neurons while disinhibiting their cell bodies. Using two-photon calcium imaging and optogenetic manipulation in mice performing a delayed licking task, Alishan aims to characterize how NDNF neuron activity aligns with motor planning and action initiation, and to establish the causal role of NDNF-mediated dendritic gating in controlling movement. This work lays the mechanistic foundation for identifying precise neuromodulation targets that can restore cortical stability in Parkinson's disease without the limitations of current approaches.
Learn more about the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/
#mndrivebrainconditions #mndrive #neuromodulation
#universityofminnesota
Congratulations to MnDRIVE Neuromodulation Graduate Fellow: Noah Hjelle
Department of Neurology
Mentor: Luke Johnson, Ph.D., Department of Neurology
Project: Advancing Cortical Stimulation as a Treatment Option for Parkinson’s Disease
Noah’s project aims to improve treatment for freezing of movement in Parkinson’s disease (PD). His study seeks to understand network changes and therapeutic effectiveness of subdural cortical stimulation of motor and prefrontal cortices. Additionally, he will investigate biomarkers of freezing using machine learning techniques on multi-site simultaneous recordings of the basal ganglia. The outcomes of this project will provide crucial information about the mechanisms underlying freezing of movement and in the long term may lead to improved neuromodulation therapies for PD patients.
Learn more about the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program >>> https://mndrivebrainconditions.umn.edu/
#mndrivebrainconditions #mndrive #neuromodulation #universityofminnesota
