PiN Faculty Member - Sydney Cash, MD, PhD

Sydney Cash, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Neurology

Massachusetts General Hospital
423 Thier
55 Fruit Street
Boston, MA 02114
Tel: 617-726-3311
Fax: 617-726-9250
Email: scash@partners.org
Visit my lab page here.



Current research in the lab is, broadly speaking, dedicated to trying to understand normal and abnormal brain activity using multi-modal and multi-scalar approaches. Specifically, we are combining novel microelectrode approaches with both invasive and non-invasive techniques such as electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography to record directly from both human and animal cortical and subcortical structures. One focus of the lab relates to the neurophysiology of epilepsy; trying to understand how seizures start and stop and how they might be predicted and terminated. The questions being asked in this domain are fundamental – when a seizure occurs what is happening at the level of individual neurons and larger populations of neurons? These types of questions overlap directly with investigations into the mechanisms of sleep, normal language, auditory and other cognitive processing and the oscillatory and non-oscillatory activity inherent in these processes. All of these projects are built on a foundation of combined microelectrode, macroelectrode and non-invasive recording techniques that span information from the level of single action potentials to aggregate activity of millions of neurons. Intensive signal processing and computational techniques are employed to analyze these data sets. A typical project in the lab may involve analysis of single unit neuronal activity as well as larger scale functional connectivity networks. Collaborative activities involving neural modeling are aimed at relating these multi-scalar data and approaches. Ultimately, all of these projects aim toward the creation of both invasive and non-invasive mechanisms for restoring damaged neuronal function through brain-computer and other forms of neural interfaces.



Last Update: 5/7/2014



Publications

For a complete listing of publications click here.

 

 



© 2016 President and Fellows
of Harvard College