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Neural Engineering at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

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Neural Engineering at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

The Mapping & Engineering Neural Dynamics (MEND) Lab, led by Dr. John Rolston, studies how information is processed in the brain, and how these computations go awry in diseases like epilepsy and tremor. We also investigate how electrical stimulation rewires the brain in neurological and psychiatric diseases.

 
 
 
 
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Lab Members


Lab Members


 
John Rolston

John Rolston, MD, PhD

Dr. John Rolston is a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Clinically, he specializes in epilepsy surgery (including laser ablation), deep brain stimulation (DBS) for movement disorders (Parkinson’s, dystonia, tremor), trigeminal neuralgia, and neuromodulation for psychiatric disorders (such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette’s syndrome). Dr. Rolston received his Bachelor’s degree in computer science from Columbia University, before studying brain-computer interfaces for epilepsy during his PhD at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. He received an MD from Emory University before completing his residency training in neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco.

More info: 

Aaron Warren, Ph.D.

Aaron Warren completed a PhD in epilepsy neuroimaging at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His PhD research used functional brain mapping (EEG-fMRI) to localize seizures in children with severe epileptic and developmental encephalopathies, with a particular focus on Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. In his postdoc, Aaron is using MRI and electrophysiologic methods to optimize neuromodulatory and neurosurgical treatments for epilepsy, with current interests in deep brain stimulation, lesion detection, and network connectivity predictors of clinical outcome.

Hargunbir Singh, M.B.B.S.

Hargun Singh is investigating improved techniques and pedagogical plans for functional neurosurgery.

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Rose Caston

Rose Caston is an MD-PhD student at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She received a B.A. in biomedical engineering from Dartmouth College and a B.E. from the Thayer School of Engineering. At Dartmouth, her research with the Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Center involved developing implantable oxygen probes for brain tumor sites to improve the efficacy of cancer treatment. Rose is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Dr. John Rolston's lab in Neural Engineering at the University of Utah. She aims to study the functional architecture of the brain in patients with epilepsy to improve treatment with closed-loop neuromodulatory devices.

Bornali Kundu, MD, PhD

Bornali Kundu received her B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. She then completed her M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience through the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is in her final year of residency at the University of Utah and completing an enfolded fellowship in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery with Dr. Rolston as well as research in his lab. Her research entails understanding the network connectivity supporting normal cognitive functions, such as working memory, and how single pulse electrical stimulation can help characterize brain connectivity in normal and disease states.

Former Members

  • Daria Anderson, PhD: now a professor at the University of Sydney

  • Bornali Kundu, MD, PhD: now a professor and neurosurgeon at the University of Missouri

  • Elliot Smith, PhD: now a professor at the University of Utah

  • Tyler Davis, MD, PhD: research faculty at the University of Utah

  • Justin Campbell: pursuing an MD/PhD at the University of Utah

  • Brian Philip: pursuing a PhD at the University of Utah

Available Positions

If you’re interested in joining the lab, please send a CV and statement of interest to jrolston@bwh.harvard.edu.

 
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Publications


Publications


Journal Articles

Articles for the MEND Lab can be viewed on PubMed and Google Scholar.