People

 

M

Principal Investigator

Catherine J. Chu, MD, MMSc, MA

Dr. Chu is a board-certified child neurologist, epileptologist, and neurophysiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.  She received her BS in neurobiology and behavior from the University of Washington, MD and MMSc from Harvard Medical School, and MA in social anthropology from Harvard University. Clinically, Dr. Chu is the director of neonatal and pediatric EEG monitoring and director of the pediatric responsive neurostimulation clinic at MGH. Clinically, Dr. Chu specializes in EEG analysis, seizure localization, surgical planning, and neuromodulation for patients with difficult to control epilepsy. Dr Chu’s research focuses on identifying and understanding how brain rhythms contribute to seizures and cognitive symptoms in epilepsy using invasive and noninvasive multimodal imaging. Actively funded projects in the Chu Lab include studies on thalamocortical circuit dysfunction in sleep-activated epilepsy, translational studies evaluating spike ripples as a biomarker in epilepsy, testing improved approaches of neuromodulation in cortical epilepsy, and understanding the relationship between hippocampal rhythms and sleep-dependent memory function. She is also active in several multicenter collaborative networks to improve our understanding of neonatal seizures and early life epilepsies. Outside of work, Dr. Chu is the proud mom to 3 awesome kids and enjoys tackling endless home improvement projects with her husband. [Link to CV]


LAB MEMBERS​​​​

Wen received her Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2015 and Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science from Jinan University, P. R. China in 2011. Wen has worked on various types of analysis of biomedical signals including ECG, EEG, PSG, MRI, and acoustic signals. She is interested in building automated analytic models by developing predictive, actionable algorithms for better performance and efficiency. In the Chu Lab, Wen is developing tools to detect and analyze spike ripples as an improved biomarker for the epileptogenic cortex compared to either spikes or ripples alone.

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Kinard, BA
Clinical Research Coordinator

Elizabeth graduated from Harvard College in 2022 with a B.A. in Behavioral Neuroscience. She has previously worked as a Technical Research Assistant at McLean Hospital studying the effects of kappa opioid receptor antagonism on the escalation of oxycodone intake and relapse after withdrawal. In the Chu lab, she is interested in investigating the etiology and cognition-related consequences of Rolandic epilepsy, as well as the clinical implications of these findings to inform future treatment development.

 

 

Grace Xiao, BS
Medical School Student Research Assistant

Grace Xiao is a medical school student at Johns Hopkins. Previously, she did her undergraduate work at Harvard studying neurobiology and economics. She is interested in creating impact through research, policy and entrepreneurship. In the Chu lab, Grace assisted with collecting and analyzing neuroimaging data for the Rolandic epilepsy project and completed an Honors thesis evaluating spike morphological differences and seizure risk in epilepsy. 

 

Anvitha Sathya
Medical School Student Research Assistant

Anvitha is currently a fourth-year student in Boston University’s Seven Year BA/MD program with a minor in English and an interest in neurological patient care. She has previously worked in labs studying neuromuscular diseases and neurological injuries. Anvitha helps with multimodal imaging and experimental data collection in children for the Rolandic epilepsy project and performs electrode localizations for projects using invasive EEG data.

John McLaren, MD
Pediatric Epilepsy Fellow

John is currently an Epilepsy Neurology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. He completed his undergraduate degree at Boston College, majoring in Music and Neuroscience, his Medical Doctorate at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, and his Child Neurology residency at MGH. After completing his Neurology training, he will be staying on at MGH as an Epilepsy fellow. His research interest is in diagnostics and therapeutics for children with epileptic encephalopathies.

Yancheng Luo, MD
Junior Faculty

YC (Yancheng) Luo is a graduate of the Child Neurology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and current junior faculty at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska.  During his childhood neurology residency at MGH, he started working with Dr. Chu on electrophysiology data analysis and he hopes to continue this research interest in his career.

 

Ana Howland
Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant

Ana is currently an undergraduate student at Rice University studying Piano Performance and Neuroscience, with interests in translational research and neurological patient care. In the Chu Lab, Ana is involved in the collection of neuroimaging and experimental data and the development of an algorithm to automatically stage intracranial recordings. She assists in projects that analyze multimodal imaging data of epilepsy patients and the relationship between hippocampal rhythms and sleep-dependent memory function.

 

Tai Chu-Shore
Webmaster

 

 


COLLABORATORS

Mark Kramer, PhD
Professor of Math and Statistics, Boston University
Matti Hamalainen, PhD
Professor of Radiology,  Harvard Medical School
Uri Eden, PhD 
Professor of Math and Statistics, Boston University
Dara Manoach, PhD 
Professor of Psychology, MGH, Harvard Medical School
Xue Han, PhD
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Harvard Medical School
Britt Carlson Emerton, PhD
Instructor of Psychology, MGH, Harvard Medical School
Brandon Westover, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology, MGH, Harvard Medical School
Mark Richardson, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology, MGH, Harvard Medical School
Ona Wu, PhD
Associate Professor, Radiology, Harvard Medical School
 

 

 

RESEARCH CONSORTIUMS

 

Center for Neurotechnology and Recovery

Neonatal Seizure Registry

Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium

Division of Sleep Medicine

Massachusetts General Neuroscience

FORMER LAB MEMBERS

Lab position / Post-lab position

Summer Uhrich
Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant, Boston College / BS Candidate, Boston College
Elizabeth Spencer, PhD
Graduate student in Mathematics and Statistics, Boston University / Postdoctoral Researcher at Carnegie Mellon University
Lauren Ostroswki, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator and Honors Undergraduate Student in Neuroscience, Brown University / MD/PhD Candidate, MSTP, University of California San Diego
Grace Xiao, BS
Honors Undergraduate Student in Neuroscience, Harvard University / MD Candidate, Johns Hopkins Medical School
Anehita Oribabor, MEng
Clinical Research Coordinator / Industry
Sally Stoyell, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator / Psychology PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota
Dan Song, BSE
Clinical Research Coordinator / Biomedical Engineering PhD Candidate, Northwestern University
Emily Thorn, MA, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator and Graduate student in Neuroscience at Boston University / MD Candidate, Washington State University Medical Center
Lila Worden, MD
Pediatric Neurology Resident researcher / Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Epilepsy Fellow
Erin Ross, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator and Co-op Student at Northeastern University / MD Candidate, University of Southern California Medical School
McKenna Parnes, PhD, MSEd
Graduate Student in Clinical Psychology / Psychology Residency, Brown University
Wenting Xie, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator / Computer Science MS Candidate, Cornell University
Rebecca Weiss, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator / MGH Neonatology Clinical Research Coordinator
Kyla Cordrey, BS
Honors Undergraduate Student in Neuroscience, Harvard University / MD Candidate, Johns Hopkins Medical School
Katica Boric, PhD, MSc
Clinical Research Coordinator / Decision Lab Manager in Spain
Juan Diaz, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator / MBA Candidate, Dartmouth University
Rayna Trietsch, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator / MD Candidate, Tufts University Medical School
Jennifer Leahy, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator / Psychology PhD Candidate, University of Massachusetts
Stefania Sokolowski
Honors Undergraduate Student in Neuroscience, Boston University / Strategic Analyst, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center