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Behavioural and Social Neuroscience

Prof. MUDr. Milan Brázdil, Ph.D.
Research Group Leader      

 

THEMATIC RESEARCH FOCUS

RESEARCH AREAS

  • Study of functional connectivity in human brain during detection of rare events
  • Study of functional and anatomical connectivity of the brain in the context of integrative processes and the neurobiology of schizophrenia
  • Research of behavioural and neural mechanisms of decision-making processes in healthy subjects and neurodegenerative and movement disorders
  • Intracerebral electrophysiological correlates of cognitive and affective processing
  • Research of the cerebellum, basal ganglia and other subcortical structures and their cortical connections linked to the predictive motor timing and modulation of these connections
  • Research of neuronal synchrony in the visual cortex and implications for visual perception in space and time domains
  • Studies on behavioral patterns and their intracranial EEG correlates in patients with epilepsy
  • Morphology of gray matter of the brain and implications for functional and clinical variability in schizophrenia
  • Research of the behavioural and neural aspects linked to the social cognition and social interaction in healthy subjects and pathological conditions
  • Research of motivational and decision-making mechanisms within the human brain as a background for neuroeconomics

MAIN OBJECTIVES

Usage of multimodal approach to the advanced study of cognitive and behavioural functions.

CONTENT OF RESEARCH

Principles in neural connectivity underlying normal and pathological brain processing

The research group will be principally participating in this work package by comparing the network architecture of structural and functional connectivity and model their relationships. Special attention will also be paid to studies of changes in neural connectivity in terms of developmental, physiological and pathological neuroplasticity. The principal aim will be to significantly contribute to our knowledge of “wiring” in a healthy and diseased brain, as well as to identify the typically reorganised neural networks in some neuropsychiatric conditions that might be used by us in the future as extremely useful early biological markers of the disease.

Genetics and epigenetics of neuropsychiatric diseases

The research group will be focusing on global gene expression profiling in selected neurological disorders (for example in the brain tissues of epileptic patients) and the analysis of epigenetic changes associated with selected neuropsychiatric disorders.

Mechanisms of CNS adaptation on pathological factors and therapy

The research group will be studying the impact of neurodegenerative diseases such as dystonia, and schizophrenia on the structural measures and functional properties of the brain using the high field MR techniques (event related fMR and spectroscopy, tractography and others), the high frequency event related electrophysiological methods, and neuromodulation techniques. The results of the instrumental investigations will be compared with clinical, neuropsychological and behavioural data and therapy outcome. The histological and molecular basis as well as the genetic background of diseases will be compared with advanced imaging and functional techniques and with clinical data.

KEY RESEARCH EQUIPMENT

PLANNED RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE

Core Facility

The research group will be one of the principal users of the equipment available within CEITEC Molecular and Functional Imaging Core Facility.

CURRENT RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE

MR Siemens Magnetom Symphony 1.5T, MR compatible EEG (BrainAmp) 32 channels, Video EEG system (Alien) 128 channels, EEG system (BrainScope) 96 channels.

MAIN PROJECTS

  • The Optimization of methodics of analysis and evaluation of the simultaneous EEG-fMRI in patient with pharmacoresistant epilepsy (GAP304/11/1318), Czech Science Foundation, 2011-2013, M. Brazdil, Masaryk University, R. Kuba, University Hospital Brno, J. Jan, Brno University of Technology.
  • The Internal Organisation and Neurobiological Mechanisms of Functional CNS Systems under Normal and Pathological Conditions (MSM0021622404), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, 2005-2011, I. Rektor, Masaryk University.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • HAVLICEK, M., FRISTON, K., J., JAN, J., BRAZDIL, M., CALHOUN, V., D. Dynamic modeling of neuronal responses in fMRI using cubature Kalman filtering. NeuroImage. 2011, 56(4), p. 2109-2128.
  • KASPAREK, T., MARECEK, R., SCHWARZ, D., PRIKRYL, R., VANICEK, J., MIKL, M., et al. Source-based morphometry of gray matter volume in men with first-episode schizophrenia. Hum Brain Mapp. 2010, 31, p. 300-310.
  • BARES, M., LUNGU, O., V., HUSAROVA, I., GESCHEIDT, T. Predictive motor timing performance dissociates between early diseases of the cerebellum and Parkinson´s disease. Cerebellum. 2010, 9(1), p. 124-135.
  • BRAZDIL, M., BABILONI, C., ROMAN, R., DANIEL, P., BARES, M., REKTOR, I., EUSEBI, F., ROSSINI, P., M., VECCHIO, F. Directional functional coupling of cerebral rhythms between anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal areas during rare stimuli: A directed transfer function analysis of human depth EEG signal. Hum. Brain Mapp. 2009, 30(1), p. 138-146.
  • BRAZDIL, M., ROMAN, R., URBANEK, T., CHLADEK, J., SPOK, D., MARECEK, R., MIKL, M., JURAK, P., HALAMEK, J., DANIEL, P., REKTOR, I. Neural correlates of affective picture processing – a depth ERP study. NeuroImage. 2009, 47(1), p. 376-383.

 

New working position: postdoc – neuromarketing

http://www.ceitec.cz/volna-pozice-postdok-neuromarketing-2/

 

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