Research Interests
Dr. Cajigas runs the Research Engineering Strategies To Recovery (RESToRe) lab at the University of Pennsylvania. Current research efforts in the lab aim to leverage the unique intraoperative neurophysiology observed during awake brain surgery to better understand how the cortex and deep brain structures coordinate their activity to during the production of natural movements. The ultimate goal of these studies is to inform the design and deployment of the next generation of brain computer interfaces for the restoration of movement in patients that have suffered neurologic injuries such as stroke or spinal cord injury.
Current Projects
Neurodynamics
Utilizing computational frameworks to analyze the dynamics of brain activity.
Neurophysiology of Movement
Understanding the interaction between cortical and subcortical components to movement.
Brain-Computer Interface
Interpreting neural signals and how these encode behavioral dynamics.
Neuromodulation
Evaluating the response of brain networks to electrical stimulation in the setting of Movement Disorders.
This work is funded by the NIH K12 Neurosurgeon Research Career Development Program. Dr. Cajigas works closely with Dr. Bijan Pesaran, Ph.D. (director of the Brain Machine Interface Systems Lab) and Dr. Casey Halpern, M.D. (Chief of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and director of the Halpern Lab).
