Brown researcher receives federal grant for innovative neuroscience

Stephanie Jones, a research associate professor of neuroscience at Brown University, has been named the recipient of a $1.6 million grant from the BRAIN Initiative, a federal government program.

"The aim of the grant is to turn the model into a user-friendly software tool that researchers and clinicians can use to test hypotheses about the neural origin of their MEG/EEG or electrocorticography data," Jones said. "We are calling this tool the 'Human Neocortical Neurosolver.'"

Jones has developed an innovative computational model during her time as a researcher at Brown that describes how individual neurons, as well as circuits of them, can produce the signals that are recognized and detected by external brainwave measurements. This includes EEG and MEG sensors.

The grant, which she wants to use to share her groundbreaking work with other scientists, will be paid out over three years.

“While there are numerous studies connecting human MEG/EEG data to healthy and abnormal functions, the circuit level interpretation of the underlying neural dynamics is lacking,” she said. “This tool will foster the translational relevance of these technologies by allowing researchers to generate testable hypotheses that can guide further studies and ultimately novel therapeutics.”