CONQUER Collaborative

Research at CoNQuER CollabOrative

Interdisciplinary

CONQUER Collaborative, an interdisciplinary effort which brings together faculty, students and resources from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Psychology, Psychiatry, Nursing and Health Professions, Neurology, Neurobiology, Neurosciences, Visualization, Gaming, Computer Science, Education and other partner units (regional, national and international).

Brain Observatory

CONQUER Collaborative aims to provide interdisciplinary researchers a unique brain observatory for studying human brain function and its relationship to behavior in healthy and clinical populations. The center is equipped with a comprehensive suite of monitoring, processing, analysis and visualization technologies to conduct human subject experiments based on two complementary modalities, namely, the near-infrared (NIR) based functional optical brain imaging [fNIR] and the electroencephalogram [EEG].

Optical Brain Imaging

The laboratory is focused on the development, systems integration and field/clinical deployment of optical brain imaging techniques to monitor human brain activity of healthy individuals and patients. The team has been at the forefront of the development of portable and wearable fNIR systems as well as in the development of signal processing methodology.

Clinical, Civilian and Military Applications

The team is working on the design of various versions of the fNIR systems tailored to specific clinical and nonclinical applications, such as neurorehabilitation, anesthesia awareness, brain computer interface for neurological and gaming applications, pediatric solutions, education and training, cognitive aging, safe piloting and cognitive function monitoring for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) ground control operators, etc. The team is committed to move the fNIR technology to applications in healthcare, education and entertainment and collaborates with a long list of partners in US and overseas.

Translational and Collaborative Research

Moreover, the project management services and funding opportunities offered by the Translational Research in Biomedical Technologies' program of the School help the CONQUER center to move the methods and technologies to applications in healthcare, education and entertainment and collaborates with a long list of partners in the U.S. and overseas. Current collaborative research areas are in the field of cognitive workload assessment, such as cognitive function monitoring specialized operators;  neurorehabilitation, depth of anesthesia monitoring, brain computer interface for neurological and gaming applications, pediatric solutions, education and training, cognitive aging, etc.