Joana Carvalho

joana

Profile Update 28.02.2019

Current activities:

I am currently finishing my PhD at UMCG. During my PhD I have been working towards the understanding of brain plasticity associated with filling-in and how does it affect glaucoma. I have studied: 1) the cortical characterisation of orientation and spatial frequency selective neurons;  2) how filling-in is affected by the spatial properties in the visual scene and 3) cortical changes associated with perceptual filling-in. Additionally I have developed a framework that enables high-resolution functional mapping of neuronal subpopulations. Currently I studying the cortical effects of filling-in in glaucoma.

Accomplishments:

Publications status

  • Carvalho, J, Invernizzi, A., Ahmadi, K., Hoffmann, M., Renken, R. and Cornelissen, F.W. Micro-probing the visual cortex: high-resolution mapping of neuronal subpopulations. (in preparation)
  • Carvalho, J., Renken, R and Cornelissen, F.W. pRF changes during perceptual filling- in of an artificial scotoma in humans. (in preparation)
  • Carvalho, J., Renken, R and Cornelissen, F.W. Studying Cortical Population Plasticity in Ophthalmic and Neurological disorders: the need to move from stimulus-driven to cortical circuitry approaches. (submitted)
  • Carvalho, J., Renken, R., Nomdo, J and Cornelissen, F.W. The magnitude of perceptual filling-in depends on the spatial frequency of the visual scene. (in preparation)
  • Yildirim, F., Carvalho, J. and Cornelissen, F.W. (2018) A second-order orientation- contrast stimulus for population-receptive-field-based retinotopic mapping. Neuroimage 164, 183:193

Future plans:

Due to the great experience that I had as NGV ESR I intend to continue in science linking fundamental and applied research.  

My NextGenVis Experience:

Being a NGV fellow was very rewarding experience not only professionally but also personally. I greatly enjoyed the network and partnership with some of the most advanced labs in the world in computational neuroscience combined with the experience in health care and industrial settings.

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Background:

MSc+BSc: Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics, University of Lisbon (2010-2015)

Previous Projects:

  • Use of a Tracing task to Assess: Visuomotor Dexterity and Handedness. Harvard Medical School, 2013.
  • Dermal Epidermal Separation For Skin Rejuvenation. Philips Research, 2014-2015.
  • Development and Application of Advanced Techniques to Study Cerebral Connectivity in Rest application to Schizophrenia. Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics, 2013-2014

Research interests:

Vision, Neuro-Modeling, Brain connectivity and plasticity

Current projects:

– Cortical Stability and Plasticity Associated With Filling-in and Glaucoma