Biography
Pouya Bashivan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at McGill University, an Associate Member of Mila, the Quebec AI Institute, and a William Dawson Scholar. Dr. Bashivan's past research has spanned the fields of control theory, machine learning, and neuroscience. The research in his group is at the intersection of artificial neural networks and neuroscience. By leveraging AI tools, Dr. Bashivan's group develops models that simulate brain activity in response to natural experiences, with the goal of using them as non-invasive therapeutics.
What are your hopes for your field of research?
The field of NeuroAI aims to use machine learning tools and specifically artificial neural network models to build mechanistic models of brain. These models act as in-silico replicas of real brains and allow researchers to freely study their behavior and internal activity to understand how large groups of artificial neurons enable perception, feeling, and decision making. The field strives to translate these abilities beyond making predictions and translate them into tools and applications that can help people in real world settings. For pain, that translation could mean models that anticipate how an individual's brain will respond to a given intervention before it is tried, helping move non-pharmacological treatment away from trial-and-error and toward something more personalized.
