In this discussion, we start with his pioneering work on developing susceptibility contrast for imaging perfusion while at MGH, and then his pioneering work on developing Near Infrared Spectroscopy, and using this approach to help validate fMRI contrast and shed some light on it. After this we discuss a wide range of topics that his group has been working on - falling into the categories of either methods development or mind-body interactions. He has played a major role in many insightful studies that include those using simultaneous EEG and fMRI, and looking at neuromodulation, brain plasticity, subliminal stimulation and processing, and resting state fMRI. He has been perfectly positioned and extremely active over the years to not only add to cutting edge methods and understanding of the brain, but to carry these over into eventual clinical practice.

Guest:

Arno Villringer, M.D. is the Director of the Department of Neurology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig. He is also the Director of the Department of Cognitive Neurology at Leipzig University Hospital, and Professor of Cognitive Neurology, Leipzig University. In addition he’s Director of the MindBrainInstitute Berlin School of Mind and Brain.

Arno received his MD in 1984 from Albert Ludwig University Freiburg in Germany and did a short but highly impactful fellowship at the MGH NMR Center in Boston. From 1986 to 1993, he was in Munich at the Ludwig Maximilian University department of Neurology. From 1993 to 2007 he was at Charité University Medicine in Berlin in the Department of Neurology, working up to Vice Chairman. Finally in 2007 he took on his primary role as Director of the Department of Neurology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig.