Aaron Batista Assistant Professor, Bioengineering University of Pittsburgh Phone: (412) 383-5394 Email: abatista@engr.pitt.edu Individual Website: http://www.engr.pitt.edu/bioengineering/main/people/faculty/batista_aaron.html

Ph.D., California Institute of Technology Research Interests My laboratory explores the neural mechanisms of sensory-motor integration. We study how visually-guided arm and eye movements are orchestrated by the cerebral cortex. We then apply new discoveries in neurophysiology to help improve neural prosthetics - devices that can provide motor control to paralyzed individuals. There are two chief research directions in the lab: neural prosthetics and basic neuroscience. In the first domain, we are exploring a new way to provide sensory feedback in the operation of a neural prosthesis: cortical microstimulation. By providing the brain with a direct representation of the position of the prosthetic arm, we hope to improve the controllability of neural prostheses. Fast, accurate feedback about the position of the prosthetic device may create the sensation that the prosthesis is “embodied”. Our second research domain is to understand how movements of our eyes change our sensory experience, and how the brain accounts for those changes, to allow fast and accurate movements. Every time we move our eyes, a different image is sent to the brain from the retinas. This change is anticipated by the brain, and is accounted for rapidly, to create a seamless visual experience. How is visual information passed between neurons to enable accurate goal-directed reaching? Recent Publications Batista AP, Yu BM, Santhanam G, Ryu SI, Afshar A, Shenoy KV: Cortical neural prosthesis performance improves when eye position is monitored. IEEE Transactions in Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 16: 2008, in press. Batista AP, Santhanam G, Yu BM, Ryu S, Afshar A, Shenoy KV: Reference frames for reach planning in macaque dorsal premotor cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology, 98: 966-983, 2007. Chestek CA, Batista AP, Santhanam G, Yu BM, Afshar A, Cunningham JP, Gilja V, Ryu SI, Churchland M, Shenoy KV: Single-neuron stability during repeated reaching in macaque premotor cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 27: 40, 2007. Batista AP, Buneo CA, Snyder LH, Andersen RA. Reach lans in eye-centered coordinates, Science, 285: 257-260, 1999. Snyder LH, Batista AP, Andersen RA. Coding of intention in the posterior parietal cortex. Nature 386: 167-170, 1997.