Jorge Riera Diaz
Interim Chair, Biomedical Department
Florida International University
Title: Resolving the mesoscopic missing link: Biophysical modeling of EEG and fMRI from cortical columns.
Abstract: Forward-generative models are considered crucial to interpret and integrate data obtained with EEG and fMRI neuroimaging modalities. Typically, these models are formulated to represent biological principles at the mesoscopic scale, which basically stand for an average voxel (1 mm3) in these neuroimaging techniques. To this end, biophysical models for neuronal activity have been modified to incorporate general physiological mechanisms governing glial cell activity, vascular dynamics, and metabolism. For the cerebral cortex, the most relevant brain structure in functional neuroimaging, a variety of such extended biophysical models has been consolidating around two main research topics over the last decade: (a) the principles for neurovascular coupling and (b) the organization of cortical microcircuits. After modeling from mesoscopic variables to neuroimaging data, inversion of generative models provides insight into these underlying mechanisms of brain function and cognition. In this talk, I will revisit these concepts and present new promising results from my laboratory.
Bio: Dr. Jorge Riera obtained a B.S. in Physics at the University of Havana in 1988. During 1995-1998, he was “Junior Associate” of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (Italy), where he completed the required credits for a master degree in biophysics. In 1999, he received the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Havana. Part of his Ph.D. thesis was completed at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris. Dr. Riera’s postdoctoral term were first at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (Japan) and alter at NICHe, Tohoku University (Japan). In 2004, he was appointed associate professor in Tohoku University School of Medicine. From 2006-2011, his research was funded by three Japanese agencies: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan and Japan Science and Technology. In 2011, he joined Florida International University (FIU), first as Visiting Professor and later as Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. For the past ~7 years he has directed the Neuronal Mass Dynamics (NMD) lab. He has also been appointed by the Honor College, the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and the STEM Transformation Institute.
