Rohit Misra
Cortical plasticity in advanced glaucoma with 7T fMRI
In October 2023, I joined the Section for Clinical and Experimental Sensory Physiology at the Otto Von Guericke University (OVGU), Magdeburg as a doctoral researcher in visual neuroscience. I am primarily supervised by Prof. Michael Hoffmann (OVGU) in conjunction with Prof. Frans Cornelissen at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). During my three-year PhD, I will be working alongside Dr. Gokulraj Prabhakaran (OVGU) and Dr. Mayra Bittencourt (UMCG) to understand and characterize the cortical plasticity in patients with advanced glaucoma.
Personal Background and Interest
A researcher at heart, I am trained in Electrical (MS (Research)) and Electronics (B.Tech) Engineering with a special focus on computational neuroscience. In my MS, I worked on modeling the functional dynamics of the brain in ADHD using functional and diffusion MRI. Currently, I am pursuing my joint PhD in visual neuroscience at OVGU and UMCG as a part of the EGRET-AAA program. My research interests include systems neuroscience, neuroimaging, and theoretical neuroscience (among many!).
Out of the office, you can find me improvising on my synthesizer keyboards or experimenting with recipes in the kitchen.
Aim of the project
Identification and characterization of the visual system’s integrity in case of retinal damage is of high relevance in visual neuroscience and neuro-ophthalmology. With the help of ultra-high-field MRI, in this project, I aim to uncover the feedback (top-down) and input (bottom-up) cortical circuitry underlying the behavioral observation that the deafferented visual cortex in advanced glaucoma is silent during passive viewing yet active during visual tasks. Insight into this adaptation shall help guide future restorative and rehabilitative treatment strategies for patients with late-stage glaucoma.
Current activities/Accomplishments
In this PhD, I shall adopt a three-pronged approach; investigating the functional, structural, and neurochemical markers of cortical plasticity in the deafferented regions of the visual cortex in advanced glaucoma. The high resolution of ultra-high-field functional MRI is expected to facilitate the dissociation of feedback and input signals in the deafferented cortex. Further, I will use diffusion MRI, multi-parametric mapping and MR spectroscopy to comment on the plasticity and stability of the cortex. Finally, I aim to develop a framework for quantitative assessment of integrity of the visual cortex in glaucoma patients that can be translated to other vision disorders as well.
In this journey, I am currently in the critical phase of formulating a research plan and conducting pilot experiments to develop hypotheses.