Neuroimaging and Surgical Simulation for Neuroscience Research.

Mashal Ahmed

Medical Student, MD

Mashal is a second-year medical student at Western. She earned her BSc from the University of Waterloo and her MSc from the University of Toronto. She is currently working on a project which explores the use of virtual reality in paediatric patients prior to and following neurosurgical procedures. Beyond academics, Mashal loves trying out new baking recipes and painting.

Renee-Marie Ragguett

Medical Student, MD

Denis Kikinov

Software Engineering, PhD

My name is Denis Kikinov and I completed my undergraduate degree in software engineering at Western University. My interest in the field of augmented reality and virtual reality was sparked when I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Eagleson in my culminating fourth year project, which eventually became the basis for my master’s thesis. I am currently pursuing a Master of Engineering Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering focused on Software Engineering.

Oleksiy Zaika

Anatomy & Cell Biology, PhD

My research is focused on skill development in cerebral angiography coiling procedures using haptic simulation. During an endovascular intervention with a cerebral aneurysm, an interventionalist manipulates a set of wires and catheters in order to fill and stabilize the aneurysmal space. This procedure uses limited fluoroscopy monitoring to navigate a 3D endovascular network – a combination of obstacles that make the procedure difficult. Currently, fellowships specializing in teaching these procedures are limited to offering most technical training in the operating room. With the appropriate implementation of simulation, it would be advantageous to target and develop core procedural skills and competencies.

Maryam Akhshi

Neuroscience, PhD

Juan Santiago Bottan

Neurosurgery, MSc

I received my MD at the University of Buenos Aires in 2009. I completed my residency in Neurosurgery at the Central Military Hospital in Buenos Aires and pursued a research fellowship in cerebrovascular and skull base surgery at the Arkansas Neuroscience Institute in Little Rock, AR in 2014. Following this, I was appointed as staff neurosurgeon in the Pedro de Elizalde Children’s Hospital in Buenos Aires. In 2019, I completed a clinical fellowship in epilepsy surgery at Western University in London, ON. For my master's project, I am investigating the role of resting-state functional MRI and functional NIRS in pediatric epilepsy surgery with special focus in preoperative language mapping and postoperative cognitive outcomes.

Derya Adil

Neuroscience, MSc

My main research interest is gaining a better understanding of how developing children with hydrocephalus learn. Specifically, my project uses resting-state fMRI to investigate the visuomotor network in children with hydrocephalus compared to typically developing controls. I also use behavioural measures to examine neurodevelopmental functioning.

Susana Correa

Neuroscience, MSc

Virat Tripathi

Biomedical Engineering, MESc

Neel Patel

Biomedical Engineering, MESc

Rutva Master

Neuroscience, MSc

My main research interest is studying the rapidly developing brain in utero using fetal fMRI. Specifically, my project uses fetal fMRI scans to investigate functional connectivity of the primary auditory cortex in terms of language acquisition and behavior in children.

Connor Burgess

Software Engineering, MESc

I completed my undergraduate degree at Western University in Computer Engineering. My research interest is in leveraging Virtual and Augmented Reality hardware devices to allow for the development and testing of software systems in the healthcare domain. This includes researching and building programs that improve both pre- and post-operative workflows via collaborative planning and analyzing patient data in a virtual environment. I'm also deeply interested in working towards building and validating programs that can be used for skill acquisition before clinicians move on to their next stage of surgical pipeline.

Chandan Chandel

Software Engineering, MESc

Chandan is a masters student focusing on Artificial Intelligence and AR/VR in the Brain3DViz lab at Western University. He completed his bachelors in electrical engineering at the same institution. During his masters he has completed multiple software engineering internship, enabling him to apply his academic learning in private sector settings.

Liam Bilbie

Software Engineering, MESc

Matthew Peck

Software Engineering, MESc

Jackie Han

Medical Sciences, BSc

Jackie is currently helping on the hospital VR project.

Mehul Satish Prabha

Medical Sciences, BSc

Mahul is currently helping with a project on how post-surgical executive functioning outcomes can be predicted by pre-surgical resting-state fMRI in surgical cases of epilepsy.

Verena Rafael

Medical Sciences, BSc

Verena is currently helping with a project related to examining the functional effects of hydrocephalus based on changes in brain volume.

Yihan (Jane) Wang

Psychology, BSc

Jane's research is focusing on exploring the cognitive attention deficits in pediatric hydrocephalus children.

Michael Dinatolo

Biology, BSc

Michael is helping out with the hospital VR project.

Sherwin Sherkat-Mahichian

Genetics, BSc

Lili Meng

Medical Sciences, BSc

My research focus is exploring how pediatric hydrocephalus affects the structure and function of the hippocampus through methods that employ volume segmentation and behavioural testing.

Daniel Roozbeh

Medical Sciences, BSc

Daniel's research is targeted toward how post-surgical executive functioning outcomes can be predicted by pre-surgical resting state fMRI in surgical cases of epilepsy and discovering volumes of cerebral spinal fluid present in patients with hydrocephalus and their implications.

Jonah Boutin

Medical Sciences, BSc

Currently collaborating on a project that is investigating the use of haptic technologies combined with virtual environments to improve surgical education.

Henna Patel

Medical Sciences, BSc

Henna is presently engaged in research focused on combining resting state fMRI and fNIRS to map language preoperatively in children with drug-resistant Epilepsy and is contributing to understanding the safety and effectiveness of vagal nerve stimulator implantation in children under the age of 5.