top of page

Julia Price Ostrowski

Computational Neuroscience, ScB

Advisor: Thomas Serre

Thesis: Rhythmic Modulation of Beta Events in Somatosensory Processing and Tactile Detection

Thesis Advisors:  Stephanie Jones, Thomas Serre, Danielle Sliva


Computational Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field that combines the studies of neuroscience, computer science, and applied mathematics. Through complex computer modeling and applied data analysis, computational neuroscience promises to lead the scientific community in our ability to create better models of neuronal functioning, as well as in progressing our rapidly developing understanding of the brain.


Cortical rhythms are the oscillatory electrical activity that arises from the underlying neural dynamics and therefore are useful in understanding patterns of neural activation and regional connectivity in the brain. Previous work in various sensory regions has pointed to the role of beta-band rhythmic activity (15-29 Hz), modulated by theta rhythms (4-8 Hz), in sampling the sensory space. This investigation utilizes various data sets of neural activity from the somatosensory cortex in order to evaluate the existence and/or role of beta modulation in both intrinsic somatosensory activity and tactile detection.


Acknowledgments:  Thank you to all of the amazing people who have helped guide and support me throughout my time at Brown. Thank you to Danielle for being an incredibly supportive and encouraging mentor, as well as Stephanie for all of her help as my thesis adviser. Many thanks to Thomas for helping me throughout the past four years as both an adviser and professor. Thank you to all of my friends and communities at Brown who have made the time so remarkably wonderful, and to my family for all the support and love!


---

"Julia: It has been such a pleasure working with you all these years teaching CLPS0950 and separately following your progress as an independent concentrator. I am so jealous -- it probably took me all the way to the middle of grad school for me to have learned and done as much as you have done in your four years at Brown. Congratulations! Please keep in touch!" --Thomas Serre


"Congratulations on your amazing achievement! You have been an immensely valuable contributor to the lab, and we wish you all the best in your future success!" --Stephanie Jones



Comments


bottom of page