Overview
The research interests of the laboratory focus on areas of basic and clinical neuroscience in which combining mathematical, computational, and experimental approaches can lead to significant progress.
Basic research
Overall, we are interested in the design principles of sensory processing, both in the sensory periphery and in the brain, and how these design principles are implemented in biological hardware. We seek to determine the aspects of sensory information that are represented, the features of the activity of individual neurons and neural populations that support these representations, and realistic models for how these representations are transformed. These questions are addressed in the visual system, via neurophysiologic studies at the single-cell and multineuronal level (with Keith Purpura) and via psychophysical studies (with Mary Conte).
Experimental investigations are complemented by theoretical studies, including (a) the development of approaches to analyze multineuronal activity and (b) strategies for stimulus design that bridge the gap between methods motivated by analytical convenience, such as white noise and sinusoids, and methods based on ethologically relevant stimuli, such as natural scenes.
Clinical research
In many neurologic diseases, including epilepsy and chronic brain injury, alterations in the dynamics of neuronal populations plays a major role in pathogenesis and/or symptomatology. In conjunction with Niko Schiff and colleagues, we are analyzing EEG, functional imaging, and anatomical imaging in brain injury patients to probe these dynamics and their relationship to spontaneous and induced fluctuations in cognitive ability and behavior. Population models of thalamocortical interactions play an important role in shaping the analytical approach.
We anticipate that both the investigational methods developed and the insights gained will generalize to many other conditions in which rapid fluctuations in level of function are a prominent feature, such as autism and Alzheimer's Disease.
Collaborative work
- Sensory processing and neural coding in the gustatory system (with Patricia Di Lorenzo)
- Fixational eye movements and their implications for visual information processing (with Michele Rucci)
- An open resource to facilitate application of information-theoretic analyses to neural data (with David Goldberg and Dan Gardner at the Laboratory of Neuroinformatics)
- An integrated software suite for exploratory and spectral data analysis (with Partha Mitra)
For more information, please visit Dr. Victor's:
Highlights
- 1
- 2The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024
- 3Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE · 2022
Publications
Funding
Active
7 grants- Sub-PIR01DC022951-02Neural mechanisms underlying the restructuring of olfactory representations in the Drosophila mushroom bodyNational Inst on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders · 2025–2029 · via California Institute of Technology
- PIR01EY007977-34Central Processing of Visual InformationNational Eye Institute · 2011–2029· 4 renewals
- Co-IR01EY034150-04Role of fixational eye movements and saccades in processing spatial information in V1-V2-V4 networksNational Eye Institute · 2022–2027
- Co-IJSMF 2020-1412JSMF Covid-19 Consortium for Recovery of ConsciousnessJames S. McDonnell Foundation · 2020–2026
- Sub-PIDBI 2014217NeuroNex: From Odor to Action:Discovering Principles of Olfactory-Guided Natural BehaviorNational Science Foundation · 2020–2026 · via University of Colorado
- Sub-PIR01EY018363-19Function of Fixational Instability During Natural ViewingNational Eye Institute · 2012–2026 · via University of Rochester· 5 renewals
- KP220020156.01A Collaborative Study of Recovery of Consciousness After Severe Brain Injury: Phase IIJames S. McDonnell Foundation · 2013–2025
Completed grants (6)
- PIR21CA241705-02Perceptual sensitivity to anatomical background statistics in mammographyNational Cancer Institute · 2019–2022
- Sub-PIR01DC006914-15Temporal Coding in the Gustatory System of the BrainNational Inst on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders · 2011–2021 · via Binghamton University· 2 renewals
- Co-IR21EY028336-02Processing of Spatial Information in V1 Through Fixational Eye MovementsNational Eye Institute · 2017–2021
- PINSF 1555891-03Collaborative Research Olfactory Navigation: Dynamic Computing in The Neural EnvironmentNational Science Foundation · 2015–2019
- KPR01HD051912-05Mechanisms of Recovery Following Severe Brain InjuryEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development · 2008–2014
Clinical research
Completed & closed trials (1)
- PIEye Movements in Biological and Artificial Vision SystemsUniversity of Rochester · IRB STUDY CLOSURE (as of 2023)
News mentions
- New Approach to Understanding the Sense of SmellAugust 17, 2026
A conceptual framework like the one engineers use for characterizing the transmission of sound and electrical signals can be useful in studying how olfaction—the sense of smell—is influenced by the air flow that carries odor molecules, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of Colorado—Boulder.
- Tiny Eye Movements Are Under a Surprising Degree of Cognitive ControlApril 3, 2023
A very subtle and seemingly random type of eye movement called ocular drift can be influenced by prior knowledge of the expected visual target, suggesting a surprising level of cognitive control over the eyes.
Mentoring
- SWSuniyya WaraichNeuroscience (PhD) · Class of 2024
- PJParul JainPhysiology, Biophysics & Systems Biology (PhD) · Class of 2023
- DTDaniel ThengoneNeuroscience (PhD) · Class of 2017
- YLYen-Chu LinPhysiology, Biophysics & Systems Biology (PhD) · Class of 2022
- CWChan Woo ChunTri-I Program in Computational Biology & Medicine (PhD) · Class of 2025
- JFJohn FerranteNeuroscience (PhD)
External relationships
Ownership
ReEmergeDBS INC
Other
Cambridge University Press · Elsevier, BV · Oxford University Press Inc. · ReEmergeDBS INC