Research Statement
Principal Investigator: Dr. Ramin Pashaie, T: (414) 229-2273, e-mail:
Neuroscience historically stems from human curiosity to unravel the deepest  mysteries of himself to address questions such as the meaning of life,  intelligence, creativity, or even consciousness. Over centuries, the scientists who  devoted their lives to understanding of the brain and the mind came from a  variety of different disciplines, from biology and psychology to mathematics,  physics, and engineering. Nonetheless, the scientific approach to understanding  the structure, function, biochemistry, and physiology of the nervous system is a  relatively new endeavor.    Brain is an assembly of billions of coupled nerve cells where each cell functions as  a nonlinear complex processing element. Subpopulations of neurons build up self-  organizing networks or topographic computational maps that develop over time  and adapt for certain parallel data processing. To unravel mysteries of signal  processing in the brain, we should build a profound image of the structure and  functionality of such networks.  This knowledge leads to: 1. Promoting our  understanding of nervous system, brain functionalities, and discovery of new  treatments for psychiatric disorders, 2. Engineering systems that compensate or  bypass injured/dysfunctional nervous circuits for neuroprosthetics and brain-  machine interface (BMI) applications, 3. Complementing the architecture of  conventional computers by adding the superiority of performing higher-level  operations such as perception, cognition, and intelligent acts.  Understanding the brain requires advanced technologies for imaging and  modulation/recording of neural activity. Currently, we have focused on  development of new paradigms to control and simultaneously image neural  activity in large-scaled networks of the brain using the tools of photonics,  electronics, and molecular genetics.      BIST Lab is the second home for a group of young investigators with diverse  educational backgrounds that work together as a team to develop new  instrumentation and methodologies for the study of nervous system and the  brain. We use enabling technologies such as electronics, optics, electromagnetics,  photonics, plus signal processing and software engineering to implement our new  ideas for brain functional imaging or modulation of neural activity to study the  dynamics of the brain microcircuits. Activities at BIST Lab covers cross  disciplinary fields including engineering, mathematics and physics, neuroscience,  molecular genetics, and computational neuroscience. 
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Brain Research
Optoelectronics & Biophotonics in
Bio-Inspired Sciences and Technologies Laboratory
Our research agenda is all about using our engineering skills to develop new instrumentation for the study of the brain. We try to understand how the brain processes information and how we can control, manipulate, and monitor neural, astrocyte, and hemodynamic activities in the brain.