Associate Professor | Interim Chair of Biomedical Engineering
Florida International University
Miami, Florida, United States
Dr. Jorge Riera obtained a B.S. in Physics at the University of Havana in 1988. During 1995-1998, he was selected “Junior Associate” of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (Italy), where he completed the required credits for a master degree in biophysics. In 1999, he received the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Havana with a dissertation entitled, “Brain Electric Tomography: the Solution of EEG/MEG Forward and Inverse Problems based on a New Approach.” Part of his Ph.D. thesis was completed at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris. Dr. Riera’s first postdoctoral term was at RIKEN Brain Science Institute (Japan), where he developed mathematical methods to study deep brain sources from single-trial magnetoencephalography (MEG). His second postdoctoral term was at Tohoku University (Japan), where he worked on the elucidation of the physiological foundations of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) data. In 2004, he was appointed associate professor in Tohoku University. Dr. Riera’s main scientific interest is to develop method for the integration of neuroimaging multimodalities based on modeling mesoscopic phenomena in the cerebral cortex. With a substantial start-up package, Dr. Riera recruited a multidisciplinary group of researchers and acquired avant-garde equipment for functional neuroimaging in small animals (e.g., 7T Bruker Pharmanscan, high-density electrophysiological systems and multiphoton microscopy). From 2006-2011, his research was extensively funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan and the Japan Science and Technology agency. In 2011, he joined Florida International University (FIU), first as Visiting Professor and later (June 2012) as Associate Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. For the past ~8 years he has directed the Neuronal Mass Dynamics (NMD) lab. He has also been appointed by the Honor College, the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and the STEM Transformation Institute. Dr. Riera’s research is focused on developing strategies to integrate different modalities of brain imaging for the understanding of multicellular signaling in the neocortex. His early work has been essential to understand the mechanisms of genesis of EEG and fMRI-BOLD signals in the brain. Based first on data from humans and later from rodents, his team has developed biophysical models of cortical microcircuits and neurovascular/metabolic coupling. These models underlie US-patented methods to study multi-scale cellular dynamics using brain imaging and electrophysiological techniques. Of particular interest is the development of pre-clinical rodent models to study epilepsy, migraine and dementia by means of brain mapping. Dr. Riera has been working with the Nicklaus Children Hospital and the Miller School Medicine at UM for the translation of his animal studies into clinical practice to improve surgical outcomes in epilepsy. In his laboratory, two groundbreaking techniques have been developed in collaboration with and commercialized by industrial partners: a) an EEG mini-cap (Cortech Solution) and b) a 3D microelectrode array (Neuronexus Tech.). Dr. Riera’s work at FIU has been funded by NSF and NIH.
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Thursday, October 24, 2024
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Multichannel, Battery-less, and Wireless Recorder for Neuronal Activity Monitoring in Swine
Friday, October 25, 2024
9:30 AM - 9:45 AM EST