Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation (CNBS)
Optimizing and applying noninvasive brain stimulation to health care and research

Faculty

Lotfi Merabet, OD, PhD
Principal Investigator

I joined the Center in 2001 after completing my doctorate degree in neuroscience ( University of Montréal ) and doctorate in optometry (New England College of Optometry). I commenced work as a postdoctoral research fellow under the Clinical Investigator Training Program of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences Technology. I subsequently trained at Boston University and the MGH Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. Following my post-doctoral fellowships, I returned to BIDMC and was appointed faculty in the department of Neurology. I maintain a clinical appointment as staff optometrist in the department of Surgery-Ophthalmology and clinical research scientist with the Boston Retinal Implant Project at the Boston VA Medical Center and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Research Interests / Research Focus

Studying the brain of the blind provides a unique opportunity to investigate the neuroplastic changes associated with altered afferent inputs and their eventual behavioral and physiological consequences. Work from our laboratory (as well as others) suggest that the occipital cortex of the blind is capable of remarkable dynamic change and adaptation following the loss of sight. These changes may in turn underlie adaptive skills such as artistic talents as well as higher-cognitive functions including language and memory. We employ functional neuroimaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), psychophysics, and lesion studies to address the functional relevance of this compensatory reorganization.

These issues of plasticity are critical in understanding the adaptation to blindness, the development of novel perceptual learning and rehabilitation strategies (including sensory substitution devices) and ultimately, the development of neuroprosthetic devices aimed at restoring sight. In collaboration with the Boston Retinal Implant Project (www.bostonretinalimplant.org) we are investigating the difficulties associated with implementing current state of the art visual prosthesis efforts, the role that neuroplasticity may play, and novel strategies aimed at overcoming them. While significant progress has been made in this endeavor, future success in developing functional visual prostheses requires an understanding of how to communicate effectively with the visually deprived brain in order to merge what is perceived visually with what is generated electrically. In this way, our work can be viewed as a continuum; investigating the effects of plasticity following visual deprivation, visual substitution and ultimately, visual restoration.

Relevant Publications

Merabet LB, Rizzo JF, Amedi A, Somers DC, Pascual-Leone A. What blindness can tell us about seeing again: merging neuroplasticity and neuroprostheses. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2005 Jan;6(1):71-7.

Fernandez E, Pelayo F, Romero S, Bongard M, Marin C, Alfaro A, Merabet L. Development of a cortical visual neuroprosthesis for the blind: the relevance of neuroplasticity. J Neuralengineering. 2005 Dec;2(4):R1-R12.

Merabet L, Thut G, Murray B, Andrews J, Hsiao S, Pascual-Leone A. Feeling by sight or seeing by touch? Neuron. 2004 Apr 8;42(1):173-9.

Merabet LB, Maguire D, Warde A, Alterescu K, Stickgold R, Pascual-Leone A. Visual hallucinations during prolonged blindfolding in sighted subjects. Journal of Neuroophthalmology. 2004 Jun;24(2):109-13.