Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Harvard University

PhD

1989

Psychology

I am a neuropsychologist and cognitive neuroscientist. My group, the Sleep, Cognition and Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, SCAN Lab, investigates cognitive deficits in neurodevelopmental disorders that are profoundly disabling and for which effective treatment is lacking. We are using state-of-the-art complementary multimodal neuroimaging techniques, including MEG, EEG and functional MRI, to understand the contribution of abnormal sleep to the cognitive deficits and symptoms of schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder and pediatric epilepsy. We are guided by the principle that understanding the bases of cognitive deficits, from genes to physiology to circuit dysfunction to diagnosis, will lead to effective prevention and treatment. To achieve this goal, we collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of researchers. Our group has identified deficient sleep-dependent memory consolidation as a cognitive deficit of schizophrenia and has linked it to abnormalities of specific brain oscillations during sleep. In addition to further characterizing the genetic and neural bases of this deficit, we are developing and evaluating novel treatments targeting its mechanism. The ultimate goal of this research program is to transform our understanding and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, to prevent their onset and to improve outcomes.

• sleep
• sleep spindles
• schizophrenia
• autism
• memory consolidation
• functional neuroimaging
• magnetoencephalography
• electroencephalography
• neurostimulation