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SUMMARY:Multimodal neuromodulation of cortical circuits: from basic neurop
 hysiology to clinical application
DTSTART:20150107T120000
DTEND:20150107T130000
DTSTAMP:20260920T164823Z
UID:e30e397942915b2af3f2ed5e2e599a604fb880b5ef1c36dbc51505d5
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Giacomo KOCH\, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS\, Rome\, It
 aly.\nTranscranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)\, a non-invasive brain stimu
 lation method\, allows testing key human neurophysiological mechanisms of 
 cortical excitability\, connectivity and plasticity. The multimodal combin
 ation of TMS with neuroimaging techniques such as functional MRI (fMRI)\, 
 diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and electroencephalography (EEG)\, gives th
 e opportunity to investigate in depth how neural activity vary in time and
  space along interconnected brain areas. In this presentation I will show 
 how neural interactions can be observed both in resting conditions and dur
 ing the planning or execution of motor and cognitive tasks\, providing dyn
 amic pictures of how the neural activity of certain cortical networks quic
 kly varies in response to specific goals. In this context\, multimodal neu
 romodulation represents a powerful tool to track causal functional connect
 ivity within a millisecond time scale. On the other hand\, repeated exposu
 re to TMS (rTMS) provides the unique possibility to induce cortical plasti
 city. Plastic changes can be tracked not only at level of the stimulated a
 reas\, but also on the entire tested neural network. It is now widely acce
 pted that daily application of rTMS\, when translated in the clinical grou
 nd\, is a promising and powerful tool to treating several neurological con
 ditions. I will provide few examples of how multimodal neuromodulation can
  first be used to identify the neural features of a certain circuit\, both
  in healthy and in pathological conditions\, and then translated in the cl
 inical setting to verify if the long lasting modulation of the selected ne
 twork can result in clinical improvement\, eventually in the context of pl
 acebo-controlled clinical trials. In particular I will provide examples of
  my previous studies related to the parietal-frontal and cerebellar-cortic
 al interactions that opened the way to clinical trials in which rTMS enhan
 ced neuro-rehabilitation of visuo-spatial neglect in patients with stroke 
 or modulated the effects of levodopa in patients with Parkinson’s diseas
 e. I will finally introduce current research projects aimed at assessing l
 ongitudinal cortical reorganization during sub-acute stroke recovery and a
 t using rTMS to accelerate recovery of motor functions and gait in patient
 s with stroke by stimulating the cerebellum or to improve cognitive functi
 ons in patients with mild cognitive impairment by modulating the default m
 ode network nodes.\nBio: Giacomo Koch is an Italian neurologist and neuros
 cientist based in Rome with a long-lasting experience in clinical neurophy
 siology of sensory-motor and cognitive functions. After getting a solid ex
 perience at UCL in London on the application of non-invasive brain stimula
 tion techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)\, he imple
 mented his research using a multidisciplinary approach to combine TMS with
  magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography. The main goals of 
 his research are to understand the mechanisms underlying cortical plastici
 ty and cortical connectivity in the healthy human brain\, in order to deve
 lop novel therapeutic approaches for the rehabilitation of stroke and othe
 r motor and cognitive disorders. He published more than 140 papers and sev
 eral book chapters\, with an H index of 39.
LOCATION:SV1717a http://plan.epfl.ch/?room=SV%201717A
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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