Liew, Sook-Lei
Associate Professor of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy
The overall mission of the laboratory is to enhance neural plasticity in a wide population of individuals in order to improve their quality of life and engagement in meaningful activities. We particularly focus on individuals with stroke using big data neuroimaging approaches, along with noninvasive brain stimulation and brain computer interfaces.
Oghalai, John
Our research is designed to better understand the fundamental changes in the inner ear that underlie progressive hearing loss and to develop novel techniques to treat this problem before it leads to a severe disability. We strive to understand the biological mechanisms of hearing loss and then translate this knowledge to directly and rapidly improve the care of patients with hearing loss.
Page, Katie
Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
The Brain Regulation of Appetite, Nutrition, Cognition, & Health (BRANCH) Lab has two major research programs: (i) Neuroendocrine regulation of appetite & glucose homeostasis (ii) Maternal-fetal programming of metabolism. Our translational research program addresses questions from a broad perspective by combining a number of disciplines (neuroscience, physiology, nutrition, psychology) and novel techniques to understand neural mechanisms of metabolic diseases.
Petzinger, Giselle
Associate Professor of Neurology (Clinical Scholar)
Dr. Giselle M. Petzinger is a Movement Disorders Specialist and neuroscientist in the department of neurology at USC Keck School of Medicine. Her training includes MD at USC, Neurology Residency at Yale, Fellowship at Columbia University and experimental therapeutics at the Parkinson’s Institute in the bay area. Her research involves animal models and clinical studies to investigate lifestyle on cognitive/motor function and synaptic plasticity in frontal-striatal and cerebellum circuits. Other studies include investigating the relationship between motor performance and cognitive function and related circuitry in PD and the role of compensation using behavioral, neuroimaging and neurophysiologic metrics. Her work also focuses on understanding neuro-energetic mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in PD focused on mitochondrial function and L-Lactate.
Schwartzman, Jessica
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
The Training and Research to Empower NeuroDiversity (TREND) Lab uses multi-method approaches, including electroencephalogram (EEG), behavioral observation and clinical interviews to study risk and protective factors for depression, suicide, and other mental health outcomes in youth with autism and other neurodivergent conditions. We also partner with autistic and other neurodivergent people to adapt and design treatments for the individual and family. The TREND Lab focuses on characterizing and treating adverse mental health outcomes in youth with autism and other neurodivergent conditions.
Schweighofer, Nicolas
Professor of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy
Nicolas Schweighofer is a professor of biokinesiology and physical therapy and holds joint appointments in computer science, biomedical engineering and neuroscience at USC. He is also the director of the Center for Statistics and Computation in Biokinesiology. He co-founded computational neurorehabilitation, an emerging field at the intersection of neurorehabilitation, computational neuroscience, motor control and learning, and artificial intelligence (AI). The overarching goals of computational neurorehabilitation are to understand and to further improve motor recovery following neurologic injury by mathematically modeling and simulating the neural processes underlying the change in behavior due to rehabilitation. In his current research, he is investigating how predictive models of recovery, informed by the neuroscience of stroke recovery and motor learning, as well as large datasets, can provide the basis for AI methods that suggest timing, dosage and content of rehabilitation. Such an approach will transform neurorehabilitation by guiding clinicians, patients and healthcare providers in the optimization of treatments via precision rehabilitation.
