Eskandar Lab

Dr. Emad Eskandar MD, MBA | Jeffrey P. Bergstein Chair and Professor

Leo M. Davidoff Department of Neurological Surgery

Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience

 
Dr. Eskandar received a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry from the  University of Nebraska. He earned a medical degree at the University of  Southern California, Los Angeles, and a master of business  administration degree at the Sloan School of Management at the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a neurological surgery  resident at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, and a  neurophysiology fellow at Harvard Medical School. He previously held  the Charles Anthony Pappas endowed chair of Neurosurgery at Harvard  Medical School where he also served as Professor of Neurosciences. 
Dr. Eskandar is board-certified by the American Board of Neurological  Surgery. He is a member of the American Association of Neurological  Surgeons and the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons. He is a past President of the American Society for Stereotactic and  Functional Neurosurgery.
 
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Neurophysiology of Addiction

There is extensive overlap between the neural circuits and physiological mechanisms underlying learning and addiction. Addictive substances have been shown to hijack the brain’s intrinsic reward systems, leading to an “artificial reward”, biasing individuals to addictive behaviors. We are investigating brain regions co-involved in learning and addiction, including the Nucleus Accumbens and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex, to elucidate the neurophysiology of addiction and derive deep brain stimulation paradigms to target addictive behavior.

 
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Microstimulation to enhance learning

The Nucleus Basalis and Medial Forebrain Bundle are key components of the brain circuitry of learning. The Nucleus Basalis provides cholinergic innervation to the entire cortex and can coordinate cortex during cogntive processes. Degeneration of the Nucleus Basalis occurs early in neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease, suggesting that its loss may play a significant role in the cognitive deficits seen in these disorders. The Medial Forebrain Bundle carriers projections from the Nucleus Accumbens to the prefrontal cortex and is thus an appealing target for neuromodulation, with early reports suggesting that DBS of the medial forebrain bundle is effective in modulting cognitive processes.

By investigating the neurophysiology of theses structures, we aim to design novel deep brain stimulation treatment paradigms to enhance cognition.

 
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MASER Technology for Large Scale Recording and Modulation of Brain Activity

Our lab is designing the next generation of brain imaging. Using paradigm-shifting breakthroughs in MASER technology (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), we are designing systems that can provide brain-wide activity monitoring at a scale far more precise than current systems, with the potential for non-invasive, reversible modulation of neuronal activity.

Selected Publications

For a full list of publications, please visit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/EmadEskandar

  • Bader ER, Boro AD, Killian NJ, Eskandar EN. A method for precisely timed, on-demand intracranial stimulation using the RNS device. Brain Stimulation, 2024.

  • Feigen CM, Eskanndar EN. Responsive Thalamic Neurostimulation: A Systematic Review of a Promising Approach for Refractory Epilepsy. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2022.

  • Aronson JP, Katnani HA, Huguenard A, Mulvaney G, Bader ER, Yang JC, Eskandar EN. Phasic Stimulation in the nucleus accumbens enhances learning after traumatic brain injury. Cerebral Cortex Communications, 2022.

  • Bick SK, Patel SR, Katnani HA, Peled N, Widge A, Cash SS, Eskandar EN. Caudate stimulation enhances learning. Brain, 2019.

  • Bick SK, Dolatshahi MS, Grannan BL, Cole AJ, Hoch DB, Eskandar EN. Preoperative MRI findings and prediction of diagnostic utility of foramen ovale electrodes. Journal of Neurosurgery, 2019.

  • Patel SR, Herrington TM, Sheth SA, Mian M, Bick SK, Yang JC, Flaherty AW, Frank MJ, Widge AS, Dougherty D, Eskandar EN. Intermittent subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation induces risk-aversive behavior in human subjects. Elife, 2018.

  • Martinez-Rubio C, Paulk AC, McDonald EJ, Widge AS, Eskandar EN. Multimodal Encoding of Novelty, Reward, and Learning in the Primate Nucleus Basalis of Meynert. Journal of Neuroscience, 2018.

  • Asaad WF, Lauro PM, Perge JA, Eskandar EN. Prefrontal Neurons Encode a Solution to the Credit-Assignment Problem. Journal of Neuroscience, 2017.

  • Eskandar E. Editorial. Thalamic stimulation in vegetative or minimally conscious patients. Journal of Neurosurgery, 2018.

  • Widge AS, Ellard KK, Paulk AC, Basu I, Yousefi A, Zorowitz S, Gilmour A, Afzal A, Deckersbach T, Cash SS, Kramer MA, Eden UT, Dougherty DD, Eskandar EN. Treating refractory mental illness with closed-loop brain stimulation: Progress towards a patient-specific transdiagnostic approach. Experimental Neurolorgy, 2017.

  • Lam AD, Deck G, Goldman A, Eskandar EN, Noebels J, Cole AJ. Silent Hippocampal Seizures and Spikes Identified by Foramen Ovale Electrodes in Alzheimer’s Disease. Nature Medicine, 2017.

  • Herrington TM, Cheng JJ, Eskandar EN. Mechanisms of deep brain stimulation. Journal of Neurophysiology, 2016.

  • Ishizawa Y, Ahmed OJ, Patel SR, Gale JT, Sierra-Mercado D, Brown EN, Eskandar EN. Dynamics of Propofol-Induced Loss of Consciousness Across Primate Neocortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 2016.

  • Katnani HA, Patel SR, Kwon C-S, Abdel-Aziz S, Gale JT, Eskandar EN. Temporally Coordinated Deep Brain Stimulation in the Dorsal and Ventral Striatum Synergistically Enhances Associative Learning. Scientific Reports, 2016.

  • Smith EH, Banks GP, Mikell CB, et al. Frequency-Dependent Representation of Reinforcement-Related Information in the Human Medial and Lateral Prefrontal Cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 2015.

  • Gale JTPD, Shields DC, Ishizawa Y, Eskandar EN. Reward and reinforcement activity in the nucleus accumbens during learning. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 2014.

  • Mian MK, Sheth SA, Patel SR, Spiliopoulos K, Eskandar EN, Williams ZM. Encoding of Rules by Neurons in the Human Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 2014.

  • Patel SR, Sheth SA, Martinez-Rubio C, et al. Studying task-related activity of individual neurons in the human brain. Nature Protocols, 2013.

  • Sheth SA, Mian MK, Patel SR, et al. Human dorsal anterior cingulate cortex neurons mediate ongoing behavioural adaptation. Nature, 2012.

  • Patel SR, Sheth SA, Mian MK, et al. Single-Neuron Responses in the Human Nucleus Accumbens during a Financial Decision-Making Task. Journal of Neuroscience, 2012.

  • Asaad WF, Eskandar EN. Encoding of Both Positive and Negative Reward Prediction Errors by Neurons of the Primate Lateral Prefrontal Cortex and Caudate Nucleus. Journal of Neuroscience, 2011.

  • Sheth SA, Abuelem T, Gale JT, Eskandar EN. Basal Ganglia Neurons Dynamically Facilitate Exploration during Associative Learning. Journal of Neuroscience, 2011.

  • Williams ZM, Eskandar EN. Selective enhancement of associative learning by microstimulation of the anterior caudate. Nature Neuroscience, 2006.

  • Amirnovin R, Williams ZM, Cosgrove GR, Eskandar EN. Visually Guided Movements Suppress Subthalamic Oscillations in Parkinson’s Disease Patients. Journal of Neuroscience, 2004.

  • Williams ZM, Bush G, Rauch SL, Cosgrove GR, Eskandar EN. Human anterior cingulate neurons and the integration of monetary reward with motor responses. Nature Neuroscience, 2004.