MagVenture and Center for Magnetic Resonance welcome Maria Drakaki as new Industrial PhD student.
Maria Drakaki will be part of the Neurophysics team at Center for Magnetic Resonance, focusing on Development of a Computational Model to Characterize the Effects and Side-Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a non-invasive method that uses electromagnetic induction to facilitate or inhibit brain activity and modulate the cortical neurophysiology. A brief current pulse is passed through a coil attached to the patient's head to stimulate the underlying brain area. The method is used in clinics worldwide and has several medical and research applications, among them depression treatment (FDA approved), neural diseases, or the mapping of motor and language brain areas before tumor resection.
However, depending on stimulation position and strength, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation may be painful or disturbing for the patient. Both effects and side-effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation depend on coil design, temporal waveform of the current pulse, and the chosen stimulation position on the patient's head. Quantitative data and computational models are needed to account for effects and side-effects during development and optimization of coil desing and temporal pulse waveforms. In her PhD project Maria will develop a quantitative computational model to characterize the effectiveness of the stimulation method, in particular estimating the physiolocial effects and side-effects of a chosen set-up.
Maria recently graduated from the Master program in Biomedical Engineering at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and the Anhalt University. She holds a BSc diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
MagVenture A/S is the Danish branch of a medical device company specializing in non‐invasive magnetic stimulation systems for depression treatment as well as for clinical examination and research in the areas of neurophysiology, neurology, cognitive neuroscience, rehabilitation and psychiatry. Magventure was established in 2007 and has 60 employees. Visit https://magventure.com/ to learn more.
Maria's Supervisors are Axel Thielscher, DTU Center for Magnetic Resonance, Claus Mathiesen, MagVenture A/S, and Kristoffer H. Madsen, DTU Compute.