Ether Dome—MGH Bullfinch Building—55 Fruit St, 4th Floor, Boston, MA and Zoom
(See below for full information)
Probing the depths of unconsciousness with multifunctional neurotechnology
Innovation in the interrelated fields of anesthesia and psychiatry demands an improved understanding of the mechanisms behind altered states of consciousness. Studying the brain's functional equilibrium, and how it can be disrupted, has motivated increasingly high resolution and multifunctional neurotechnology. Inferring the dynamic structure of neuronal signaling from high dimensional data requires concomitant computational advances. This thesis focuses on how the intersection of neuroscience, engineering, and statistics can be leveraged to unravel the mechanisms behind altered consciousness induced by high-dose ketamine. Although ketamine has been indispensable to medical practice since 1970, the neurobiological mechanisms behind its unique behavioral effects are not fully understood. I hypothesized that ketamine’s inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors leads to a systemic restructuring of both chemical and electrical neuronal signaling which ultimately disrupts consciousness. Systematically testing this hypothesis required the ability to probe electrochemical signaling across the behavioral spectrum spanning cognition and unconsciousness. To enable this study, I first developed multifunctional fiber-based neurotechnology capable of simultaneously recording and modulating cortical and deep brain electrochemical signaling in non-human primates. Second, I developed a state-space model framework for characterizing the structure of neural activity and its dynamic response to neuromodulation. Using these developments, I found that ketamine's systemic alteration of electrochemical signaling results in rigidly structured neural activity that disrupts communication between brain areas, resulting in loss of consciousness. This work furthers our understanding of the neural dynamics that define unconsciousness, while also empowering systems neuroscience with an integrated, generalized toolbox for characterizing neuropharmacology.
Thesis Supervisors:
Emery N. Brown, MD, PhD
Professor of Medical Engineering and Computational Neuroscience, MIT
Polina Anikeeva, PhD
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT
Thesis Committee Chair:
Earl K. Miller, PhD
Picower Professor of Neuroscience, MIT
Thesis Reader:
Mark Richardson, MD, PhD
Director of Functional Neurosurgery, MGH
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zoom invitation –
Indie Garwood is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Indie Garwood Thesis Defense
Time: Monday, May 8, 2023 03:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Your participation is important to us: please notify hst [at] mit.edu (hst[at]mit[dot]edu), at least 3 business days in advance, if you require accommodations in order to access this event.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://mit.zoom.us/j/95055263891
Password: Garwood
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,95055263891# US (New York)
+16699006833,,95055263891# US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 950 5526 3891
US : +1 646 558 8656 or +1 669 900 6833
International Numbers: https://mit.zoom.us/u/aek5oDVnZa
Join by SIP
95055263891 [at] zoomcrc.com
Join by Skype for Business
https://mit.zoom.us/skype/95055263891