ME PhD students Arun Cherkkil , Ibrahim Oladepo , and Reza Yousofvand are recipients of 2024 Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowships (IDF), given to outstanding mid-career Ph.D. students who are engaged in interdisciplinary research. Award winners receive a $25,000 stipend, academic year tuition at the general graduate rate for up to 14 credits per semester, and subsidized health insurance through the Graduate Assistant Health Plan for up to one calendar year in an effort to support their work at one of the University’s interdisciplinary research centers or institutes.
ME Professor and Director of Graduate Studies Peter Bruggeman feels the interdisciplinary nature of the IDF awards is part of what makes ME a strong department. "Solving the world's most pressing problems requires us to leverage advances in engineering that heavily rely on interdisciplinary collaborations," said Bruggeman. "Our ME department has a long tradition in leading interdisciplinary research programs to tackle grand societal challenges and training the next generation of multidisciplinary innovators. The three ME 2024 IDF awardees collaborate with partners across the university on major challenges in the area of human health, a major impact area of our department."
Congratulations to ME's three IDF winners.
Group: Biosensing and Biorobotics Lab Project: Neurotechnologies for mapping large-scale cortex-wide cellular activity mediating spatial cognition in small mammalian models Partnership: Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR) Summary: Neuroscientists have tried to understand how neuronal networks at multiple spatial and temporal scales integrate information from different brain regions to mediate complex behaviors, like spatial navigation, in small mammals. Presently, we lack adequate imaging technologies to simultaneously capture large regions of the brain in behaving animals. Through my work, I am building a novel neuroimaging platform for large-scale neural recordings of the cortex at cellular resolution while the animal is exploring its environment. The study will contribute to translational neuroscience by revealing neural underpinnings of spatial learning in the cortex region of the brain using an innovative engineering approach. Interdisciplinarity: This project involves a unique blend of expertise in mechanical engineering, bio-engineering, and computational neuroscience to develop a tool for imaging the cortex at high spatial and temporal resolutions. The neuroimaging platform is engineered from the ground-up using opto-mechanical design principles and will be tested on bioengineered subjects that have been specifically developed for conducting high-throughput neuroimaging. Data driven approaches will be employed to identify latent low-dimensional representations of large-scale neural information acquired using this platform.
Group: Biosensing and Biorobotics Lab Project: Technologies for facilitating large-scale cerebellar recordings in mice exploring large complex environmentsPartnership: Center for Neuroengineering Summary: The cerebellum is a small but complex region of the brain that plays a key role in movement, learning, and memory. Most published cerebellum studies are done with the subject’s motion extremely restricted, limiting the observable behavioral scope. This is due to the difficulty of recording high spatial resolution neural activity from the cerebellum of freely moving animals. My research will develop new tools that enable recording high spatial resolution cerebellar activity in mice, leveraging robotics and optical imaging technologies. These tools could enhance our understanding of neurological disorders that affect the cerebellum, such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. The goal of my research is to develop cutting-edge technology for observing brain activity in freely moving mice, unlocking new insights into brain processes and advancing our understanding of the brain.Interdisciplinarity: My research is an intersection of engineering and neuroscience. My expertise is in engineering, particularly electronic hardware design, software development for robotics, and computer aided design. The Center for Neuroengineering (CNE) is a campus-wide research center that hosts experts from both engineering and neuroscience fields. Well- versed faculty members in cerebellum related research like Professor Timothy Ebner and Professor Martha Streng, my proposed IDF mentor, will provide high-quality research experience and mentorship on the neuroscience aspects of the research. Their labs will also provide training and facilities to conduct surgeries, implantation of imaging devices, and behavioral experiments.
Group: Tithof Lab Project: Numerical Investigation of Complementary Brain Waste Elimination Mechanisms for Neurodegenerative Disease PreventionPartnership: Center for Neuroengineering Summary: All cells in the human body produce waste due to cellular metabolism. To remove these cellular byproducts, interstitial fluid drains into lymphatic vessels, which transport the fluid to the venous bloodstream where the waste is then transported to various organs and cleared from the body. However, the lymphatic system is absent in the brain. Despite comprising only 3% of the body's total weight, the brain accounts for approximately 20% of the body's metabolic demands. Consequently, the brain produces protein wastes, which take the form of solutes in the interstitial fluid and must be cleared. Failure to eliminate these wastes leads to diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. This waste is cleared through two pathways. The first is the cerebrospinal fluid that covers the brain. This fluid penetrates the brain when we sleep and mixes with the interstitial fluid to remove the waste from the brain. The second pathway is a special route on the walls of vessels in the brain called the Blood-Brain Barrier, which transfers the waste from the brain into the blood. In this project, we will develop a novel comprehensive numerical model to simulate brain tissue and its waste elimination mechanisms, aiming to uncover the relative importance and complementary function of these two clearance pathways with the goal of developing novel treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.Interdisciplinarity: The dynamics of waste clearance in the brain, along with the broader field of neuronal activity and brain functions, fall under the specialty of neuroengineering and neuroscience. The interdisciplinary nature of this project arises from our approach to modeling this phenomenon as a mechanical system in order to uncover its functionality.
