Hagan Group research
Collaborations | Student research projects | Publications
About Dr Maureen Hagan
I am a Group Leader and an ARC DECRA Fellow at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute in the Neuroscience group. I completed my doctoral work at the Centre for Neural Science at New York University in the laboratory of Bijan Pesaran studying the mechanisms of inter-area communication in the parietal cortex and my undergraduate work at the University of California Los Angeles. At Monash, my work has expanded on my doctoral work to understand information is communicated across areas of the cortex and how this information is used to guide cognitive behaviours like attention and decision-making.
Our research
Current projects
1. Multi-regional communication
Our research focuses on understanding how information flows through the brain. No behaviour or cognitive process is guided by a single brain area acting in isolation. Networks of brain areas interact to form the basis of sensory perception, guide movements, and cognition. We use multi-electrode, multi-area recordings to study how information flows both within and across brain areas.
2. Laminar cortical organisation
To keep track of what information is coming from where and when, each brain area organizes its inputs. By using laminar multi-electrodes that simultaneously record across layers of cortex, we study how the architecture of cortex is used to integrate information across brain areas. We also employ tools like optogenetics to manipulate specific inputs to an area to causally test how information from one area influence another.
3. Behavioural mechanisms
Ultimately, the goal is to understand how communication across brain areas gives rise to behaviour. Both overt behaviours, such as movements, and covert behaviours, such as attention and decision-making, depend on systems of brain areas that modulate their interactions depending on behavioural demands. Therefore, we can experiment where behavioural outputs can be used to gauge neural communication.
Visit Dr Maureen Hagan's Monash research profile to see a full listing of current projects.
Research activities
Our research focuses on the mechanisms of neuronal communication both within and across brain areas. Specifically, how the laminar architecture of cortex organizes and integrates information from feedfoward and feedback processes. Our work is multidisciplinary and includes high-density, multi-brain area electrophysiology, computational neural models, neural engineering, and behavioural models of sensorimotor integration and cognition. I have expertise in eye movement and reaching behaviour and physiology as well as visual perception and development. Our Group also has experience analyzing large scale neural signals for the development of neural prosthetics.
Collaborations
We collaborate with many scientists and research organisations around the world. Click on the map to see the details for each of these collaborators (dive into specific publications and outputs by clicking on the dots).
Student research projects
The Hagan Group offers a variety of Honours, Masters and PhD projects for students interested in joining our group. There are also a number of short term research opportunities available.
Please visit Supervisor Connect to explore the projects currently available in our Lab.
The Hagan Group offers a variety of Honours, Masters and PhD projects for students interested in joining our group. There are also a number of short-term research opportunities available. You are encouraged to contact Dr Maureen Hagan regarding potential projects that align with the presented research themes.
