Our advisors are Dr. Nathalia Peixoto and Dr. Vasiliki Ikonomidou:
Dr. Nathalia Peixoto earned her Masters at UNICAMP (Brazil), where she investigated the spreading depression phenomenon in the chicken retina, which is an experimental model for migraines. For her PhD at USP (Brazil), she developed microelectrode arrays and investigated primary neuronal cultures and spent nearly two years in Germany (in Bonn) as a researcher with the German Retina Implant project. Until August 2006 she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Krasnow Institute, focusing on seizure control with low frequency electric fields. She also developed microfabricated oxygen sensors to profile metabolic activity in cardiac cells at Stanford. She is currently an associate professor of Bioengineering with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of GMU. Her research interests include implantable electrodes and systems, hybrid systems (cell cultures and electronics), control of assistive technology, bioMEMS (bio-micro-electro-mechanical systems), and experimental models of neuropathologies such as epilepsy and spreading depression.
Dr. Vasiliki N. Ikonomidou earned a Diploma in Engineering (MSc) degree and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1997 and 2002 respectively. Her PhD thesis focused on the development of excitation techniques for magnetic resonance tagging. Since August 2009, she has been with George Mason University, where she is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the MRI Physicist of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study. Her research interests include technical development for MRI, development of multispectral and fusion image processing techniques, and the detection of early stages of white matter neurodegeneration.