News

Pre-movement alpha oscillations in motor cortex shape sense of agency

Published:22.04.25 — Alpha oscillations in primary motor cortex prior to movement onset modulate sense of agency: new study published in Nature Communications

Non-invasive focused ultrasound reduces craving in opioid use disorde

Published:28.02.25 — Opioid use disorder is a major healthcare challenge in the US and an emerging challenge across Europe, with current treatments often falling short in preventing relapse. A study led by our close collaborators at Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (Prof. Ali Rezai, West-Virginia University, US) explored the safety and feasibility of focused ultrasound (FUS) neuromodulation as a potential new approach to reduce substance cravings and use in individuals with severe opioid and co-occurring substance use disorders.

Arnaud Droxler joins the Blanke Lab as VR engineer

Published:28.02.25 — Arnaud will contribute to the development of immersive virtual reality setups for experimental research projects on autobiographical memory and identified presence hallucination, bringing his competences in programming, graphic design and human-machine interaction.

Andreea-Maria Gui joins the Blanke Lab as PhD candidate

Published:05.11.24 — Using fMRI data acquisition combined with VR techniques, Andreea will investigate the neural coupling between autobiographical episodic memory and self-consciousness.

Neurotechnology boosts memory without surgery

Published:31.10.24 — EPFL researchers have combined virtual reality, non-invasive brain stimulation and advanced brain imaging techniques to improve spatial navigation in healthy participants. The study is a first step in addressing dementia in an aging population without medication or surgery.

Functional connectivity fingerprints in Alzheimer's Disease

Published:22.10.24 — Functional connectivity patterns in the brain uniquely identify individuals with Alzheimer's disease. fMRI data show that while brain fingerprints remain distinct, the topology of regions/cognitive functions that makes individuals unique changes with disease progression.

Franco Regli Award 2022/2023 to Fosco Bernasconi

Published:25.09.24 — Fosco Bernasconi is the Franco Regli Prize's winner 2022/2023!

Hallucination brain networks can be self-regulated via neurofeedback

Published:18.09.24 — Sensitivity to robotically-induced hallucinations can be modulated following self-regulation guided-training on brain network dynamics

Embodying our memories with hippocampal-premotor cortex coupling

Published:12.09.24 — The sense of agency through bodily signals is important for the encoding and recollection of episodic memories, and premotor-hippocampal coupling is key in this process.

Qiaoyue Ren joins the Blanke Lab as postdoctoral researcher

Published:12.09.24 — Qiaoyue will work on self-related components of episodic memory, studying the impact of agency and intentional bodily movements on encoding and retrieval of autobiographical memory.

Lada Kohoutova joins the Blanke Lab as postdoctoral researcher

Published:12.09.24 — Lada Kohoutova will work on identifying neural alterations associated with cognitive decline and hallucinations in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Best Paper Award for Movement Disorders 2024 to Louis Philippe Albert

Published:03.09.24 — Louis Philippe Albert received the Best Paper Award for Movement Disorders 2024 and presented his work at the 14th Movement Disorders Symposium in Lucerne, Switzerland, on August 30.

Patient information day on hallucinations & cognition in Parkinson's

Published:08.04.24 — We are happy to announce that our first patient information day on Tuesday March 19, 2024 was a success. This particular event aimed at sharing our latest research findings with those patients who participated in our different studies on hallucinations and cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease.

Halima Rafi joined the Blanke Lab as postdoctoral researcher

Published:08.04.24 — Halima joins the Lighthouse project on artificial intelligence-guided neuromodulation between EPFL’s Neuro X Institute and the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering.

Grid cell activity in entorhinal cortex reflects self-consciousness

Published:27.03.24 — Grid cell-like activity in entorhinal cortex reflected self-consciousness as induced in the full-body illusion using virtual reality and motion tracking in the MRI scanner. This finding provides the first evidence that a key aspect of bodily self-consciousness (self-location) is associated with grid cells in human entorhinal cortex.

Locating single neurons that monitor and regulate the heart and lungs

Published:22.03.24 — EPFL neuroscientists have located single neurons in a deep structure of the brain that regulates the heart and the lungs, a first detection in humans. The results shed light on how the brain-body system self-regulates both vital bio-rhythms.

The surprising effect of presence hallucinations on social perception

Published:12.03.24 — EPFL neuroscientists have devised a way to alter our social perception and monitor specific types of hallucinations, both in healthy individuals and patients with Parkinson’s disease. The test, which is also available online, provides the medical community with a tool to monitor hallucination susceptibility.

Leenards Prize for neurotech project in Dementia with Lewy Bodies

Published:11.03.24 — We are happy to announce that the 2024 Leenaards Foundation Science Prize has been awarded to our project on the early diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies.

Out-of-body illusion induced by visual-vestibular stimulation

Published:26.02.24 — In this work, published in iScience, HsinPing Wu presents a unique approach combining immersive virtual reality and vestibular stimulation to induce out-of-body-like experiences.

Juan Carlos Farah joined the Blanke Lab as postdoctoral researcher

Published:31.01.24 — Juan Carlos will work on new methods using AI and large language models for cognitive neuroscience research