I am a neuroscientist and neural engineer currently working to develop neurophysiologically-based brain computer interfaces to improve functional outcomes in patients with severe movement disabilities due to brain injury and disease. This work relies heavily on understanding foundational principles of how the brain represents movements, combined with decoding algorithms, and as such forms the major thrust of my research. A closely related goal is to look at the role of sleep in the consolidation of motor skills, such as when a user learns to use a neuroprosthetic device. I have also investigated the ameliorating effects of sleep more broadly in the clinical population.
I am currently a Full Researcher (Professional Researcher Series, Neural Engineering) at the Weill Institute for Neurosciences at the University of California, San Francisco and affiliated with the UCSF - Veteran Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in San Francisco. I primarily work with Dr. Karunesh Ganguly, and also did my post-doctorate fellowship in his lab. I also collaborate with Dr. Anne Richards at UCSF-VAMC. I obtained my Masters and PhD from Georgia Tech with Dr. Lewis Wheaton in Bioengineering and Neurophysiology respectively where I first embarked on my journey in neuroscience. I obtained my Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy in my hometown of Chennai, India. I also wrote code as a software engineer for 18 months in industry. Prior to all this, I was a tennis player and track athlete in my first career before embarking on my professional journey.