לוח שנה משולב

My lab’s focus in recent years has been split between development of ultra-high resolution fMRI at high field and the exploration of more sensitive yet robust methods to find all the salient transients and trends in the signal. High field, high resolution fMRI relies heavily on the acquisition technology and the functional contrast used as well as unique processing approaches that segment, as well as possible, cortical layers for analysis. Our fMRI time series analysis research relies on creative paradigm design in conjunction with tailored processing methods that strike a balance between casting a wide net for potentially informative signals and applying just enough modeling to make sense of the data. Our goal is to use fMRI to see neuronal activity and capture neural correlates of behavior that have previously been elusive to more standard approaches. 
Specifically, for our high resolution fMRI work, I will describe experiments demonstrating layer-specific activity in motor, somatosensory, and visual cortex that changes with tasks that modulate the hypothesized input and output cortical communication. In our lab, we perform layer fMRI using a functional contrast called VASO (vascular space occupancy) that is sensitive to blood volume changes in micro vessels - having more specificity than BOLD with only a small tradeoff in sensitivity. Layer fMRI has the potential to provide cortical hierarchy information and communication directionality based on the understanding that feedforward connections terminate predominantly in middle layers and feedback connections terminate in predominantly upper and lower layers. Hence by determining activation location across cortical depth, one can infer whether the activation is feedforward or feedback. I will also demonstrate how the use of resting state connectivity in conjunction with layer fMRI is able to discern such cortical hierarchy in visual areas. Lastly, I will also show examples of applications of layer fMRI in frontal cortex during a working memory task. In addition, I will show our high resolution fMRI work that has allowed us to discern a new digit organizational pattern in motor cortex. 
For our time series work, I will show our recent results in using connectivity-based decoding for identifying, in an unsupervised manner, tasks being performed. In addition, I will show an application of naturalistic stimuli and inter subject correlation to characterize personality trait and language skills of individuals. Lastly, changes arousal state during scanning has been viewed as both a confound and opportunity. I demonstrate our effort to further characterize the temporal and spatial signatures of arousal state changes in fMRI time series.

Plastic (irreversible) deformation of crystals requires disrupting the crystalline order, which happens through nucleation and motion of topological line defects called dislocations. Interactions between dislocations lead to the formation of complex networks that, in turn, dictate the mechanical response of the crystal. The severe difficulty in atomic systems to simultaneously resolve the emerging macroscopic deformation and the evolution of these networks impedes our understanding of crystal plasticity. To circumvent this difficulty, we explore crystal plasticity by using colloidal crystals; the micrometer size of the particles allows us to visualize the deformation process in real-time and on the single particle level.
In this talk, I will focus on two classical problems: instability of epitaxial growth and strain hardening of single crystals. In direct analogy to epitaxially grown atomic thin films, we show that colloidal crystals grown on mismatched templates to a critical thickness relax the imposed strain by nucleation of dislocations. Our experiments reveal how interactions between dislocations lead to an unexpectedly sharp relaxation process. I will then show that colloidal crystals can be strain-hardened by plastic shear; the yield strength increases with the dislocation density in excellent accord with the classical Taylor equation, originally developed for atomic crystals. Our experiments reveal the underlying mechanism for Taylor hardening and the conditions under which this mechanism fails.

From snowflakes to nanoparticle superlattices, a menagerie of complex structures emerge
from simple building blocks attracting each other with Coulombic forces. On the colloidal
scale, however, this self-assembly feat is not easily accomplished. Although many colloids
bear an innate surface charge, their strong electrostatic attraction is not directly suitable for
crystallization. Instead, particles must be finely crafted to serve as self-assembling units. In
this talk, I'll show the robust assembly of crystalline materials from common suspensions
of oppositely charged colloids through a generic approach which we refer to as polymerattenuated
Coulombic self-assembly. I will demonstrate that, when particles are held
separated at specific distances by a neutral polymer spacer, the attractive overlap between
oppositely charged electrical double layers can be systematically tuned, directing particles
to disperse, crystallize, or become permanently fixed on demand.