A Cullen College professor and his students made headlines in the Houston Chronicle today for their research measuring babies’ brain waves through a $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The article, “UH study measures babies’ brain signals as start of autism research,” features Jose “Pepe” Luis Contreras-Vidal, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen University Professor of electrical and computer engineering. Two doctoral students at the Cullen College, Zach Hernandez and Jesus Cruz-Garza, as well as undergraduate Teresa Tse, were also featured in the article.
Pepe and his students are currently recruiting children from six months to 24 months old to take part in their study, which aims to determine how babies and toddlers begin to understand social interactions by mapping the neural networks triggered by playtime activities and social interactions.
“Eventually, this information should help bring a greater understanding of the brains of, say, children with autism or other developmental disorders,” writes Chronicle staff writer Kyrie O’Connor.
To read the article in the Houston Chronicle, please visit: http://www.chron.com/news/health/article/Live-wire-Mapping-babies-brain-activity-5893324.php.