Stephen M. LaConte, Ph.D.
“It’s a pretty cool question. Can we take a snapshot of the brain and see what emotion the person is interpreting?”
Capturing images of the brain as it works
Can seeing the brain in action lead to rehabilitation and therapies?
Stephen LaConte’s lab is devoted to advanced neuroimaging acquisition and data analysis approaches, aimed at improving basic understanding of normal brain function and exploring the potential for rehabilitation and therapy for neurological and psychiatric conditions. LaConte has applied his methods to fields ranging from alcohol abuse to traumatic brain injury.
A major focus of the lab is an innovation in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that we developed and call “temporally adaptive brain state,” or TABS fMRI.
The inception of TABS arose from two major recent advances in neuroimaging. The first is recognition that multi-voxel patterns of fMRI data can be used to decode brain states – to determine what the volunteer was “doing,” such as receiving sensory input, affecting motor output, or otherwise internally focusing on a prescribed task or thought. The second is continued advances in magnetic resonance imaging systems and experimental sophistication with fMRI that have led to the emergence of real-time fMRI as a viable tool for biofeedback.
slaconte@vtc.vt.edu
540-526-2008
R-1112, Riverside 2
- Professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
- Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, College of Engineering
- Professor, Departments of Emergency Medicine and Radiology, School of Medicine
Li T, Murphy S, Kiselev B, Bakshi KS, Zhang J, Eltahir A, Zhang Y, Chen Y, Zhu J, Davis RM, Madsen LA, Morris JR, Karolyi DR, LaConte SM, Sheng Z, Dorn HC. (2015). A New Interleukin-13 Amino-Coated Gadolinium Metallofullerene Nanoparticle for Targeted MRI Detection of Glioblastoma Tumor Cells. Journal of the American Chemical Society 137(24): 7881-8.
Eklund A, Dufort P, Forsberg D, LaConte SM. (2013). Medical image processing on the GPU – Past, present and future. Medical Image Analysis 17(8): 1073-94.
Craddock RC, Milham MP, LaConte SM. (2013). Predicting intrinsic brain activity. Neuroimage 82: 127-36.
Baylor College of Medicine
Assistant Professor, Neuroscience
- University of Denver: B.S, Biomedical Science and Electrical Engineering
- University of Minnesota: Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
- Dean’s Award for Outstanding New Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech College of Engineering, 2014
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Article ItemNIH grant will fund graduate student’s study of human brain activity in alcohol use disorder , article
Jeremy Myslowski, a doctoral student working in the lab of Stephen LaConte at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, will use the award to study new ways to quantify severity of alcohol use disorder with neuroimaging and to test whether this disorder also impairs brain regulation.
Date: Apr 15, 2022 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech scientists find link between microorganisms and early brain development , article
The study, published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, indicates that bacteria, viruses, and fungi are critical to early brain development, and their absence has been speculated to be possibly related to disorders including autism, schizophrenia, depression, and ADHD.
Date: Feb 23, 2022 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech launches ‘next generation’ human brain imaging lab , article
Researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC have received a $2.4 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, part of the National Institutes of Health, to measure the brain’s subtle magnetic signals in two research volunteers simultaneously as they interact, capturing the rich complexity of the brain’s signaling during face-to-face social interactions in real-time.
Date: May 12, 2021 -
Article ItemScientists explore new method to help people with alcohol use disorder , article
New ways to help people resist the siren call of alcohol have not kept pace — which leaves health care providers stuck with the same intervention and rehabilitation options they have been using for decades. But now, Virginia Tech scientists are studying whether people battling alcohol use disorder might gain some relief by “pre-experiencing” the future.
Date: Feb 14, 2020 -
Article ItemFDA deems molecular test for concussions ‘breakthrough device’ , article
BRAINBox Solutions, a molecular diagnostics innovator that works extensively with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, announced it has been granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration Breakthrough Device Designation to speed development of a product that includes a blood-based test to aid in prognosis and diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury.
Date: Jun 17, 2019 -
Article ItemCenter for Transformative Research on Health Behaviors selects projects to tackle lifestyle-related diseases , article
Collaborative teams of Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic investigators are exploring the consequences of destructive health behavior in people struggling with poor adherence to breast cancer treatment regimes, opioid dependence, and cardiovascular disease.
Date: Jan 04, 2019 -
Article ItemVTCRI researchers find positive effects of early education intervention four decades later , article
New research published in Nature Communications, led by Read Montague, of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, suggests that participants who received educational interventions in early childhood show positive effects on social decision-making more than four decades later.
Date: Nov 20, 2018 -
Article ItemVTCRI hackathon to draw coders from Intel, Princeton, Yale , article
Researchers and software developers will be writing code to analyze the ultimate computer — the brain — at the BrainIAK Hackathon, a three-day event beginning Sept. 26 for people who would like to use, build, or improve software related to neuroscience and machine learning.
Date: Sep 24, 2018 -
Article ItemVTCRI wins award to develop test for mild traumatic brain injury, working with industry partners, University of Virginia , article
The project has won the support of the Virginia Catalyst, which has awarded a $500,000 grant to the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute to further develop and commercialize a multi-modality system approach to aid in the diagnosis and management of mild traumatic brain injury, known as mTBI.
Date: May 15, 2018 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech Carilion Research Institute partners with INSIGHTEC to research focused ultrasound technology , article
Through this collaboration, the institute became the company’s first nonclinical research site.
Date: Jan 29, 2018 -
Article ItemEarly childhood education expert to cap Brain School, highlight Brain Awareness Week , article
Greg J. Duncan, a distinguished professor in the School of Education, and departments of economics, psychology, and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine, will highlight Brain Awareness Week, which begins March 13. The presentation will be the capstone course for the fifth annual Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute Brain School.
Date: Mar 10, 2017 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech Carilion Research Institute to host Brain Awareness Week , article
Scientists will reveal more about what they have learned about the brain’s developmental journey when the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute opens its doors for its fifth annual Brain School during Brain Awareness Week from March 13-19.
Date: Feb 15, 2017 -
Article ItemInstitute Scholars' research crosses the globe and disciplines , article
The Scholars Program from the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment is designed to support faculty in strengthening the proposals for external funding, the collection of preliminary data, and other proposal development activities.
Date: Feb 07, 2017 -
Article ItemNIH’s alcohol addiction research programs leader will speak at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute , article
George Koob, the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, will discuss the neurocircuitry of alcohol addiction at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.
Date: Jan 17, 2017 -
Article ItemCovert operations: Your brain digitally remastered for clarity of thought , article
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have found that neurofeedback can enhance the signal-to-noise ratio in thought, enabling a sharper focus on tasks - and a better understanding of brain-computer interfaces.
Date: Sep 30, 2013 -
Article ItemSmoking abstinence research receives major financial boost , article
Warren Bickel, an internationally recognized addiction expert at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, recently received a $3.2-million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for research on improving self-control in smokers seeking to quit cigarettes.
Date: Aug 29, 2013 -
Article ItemBrain Awareness Week will highlight the wonders of nature's most remarkable machine , article
Imagine a portable supercomputer that requires only the wattage of a dim lightbulb to run and yet can decode ancient languages, invent fictional worlds, and distinguish friend from foe. The Virginia Tech community will be celebrating that supercomputer – the human brain – during Brain Awareness Week, which begins March 11.
Date: Mar 01, 2013 -
Article ItemNeuroscientists produce guide for using ultrasound to treat brain disorders in clinical emergencies , article
The discovery that low-intensity, pulsed ultrasound can be used to noninvasively stimulate intact brain circuits holds promise for engineering rapid-response medical devices.
Date: Sep 14, 2011 -
Article ItemPowerful scanners for brain research to be delivered at Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute in Roanoke , article
A magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI) being delivered on Nov. 17 to the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute
Date: Nov 11, 2010
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