معرفی
Nicole Provenza, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine and an Adjunct Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering & Bioengineering at Rice University. She serves as Principal Investigator of the Provenza Lab and holds the McNair Scholar designation. Her research integrates engineering approaches with clinical neuroscience to develop personalized neuromodulation treatments.
Her research focuses on ethologically relevant brain-behavior relationships underlying psychiatric symptoms, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression. Using multimodal monitoring including intracranial electrophysiology in ambulatory patients with recording-capable DBS devices, her lab links neural activity to observable behaviors. Key methodologies include deep phenotyping, adaptive neuromodulation, and computational analysis of neural circuits to identify biomarkers for treatment response.
Recent publications reveal trends in decoding depression severity from intracranial activity, predicting DBS response through neural periodicity disruption, and developing current-steering strategies to attenuate side effects. Her work spans neural engineering, computational psychiatry, and translational neuroscience with emphasis on real-world functional outcomes.
Scientific recognition includes:
- Show Us Your BRAINs Photo and Video Contest: First Prize for DBS Lead Placement video
Dr. Provenza mentors a diverse team including Ph.D. students (Thomas Kutcher, Jeffrey Zhou, Rick Hanish), medical students (Thomas Hamre, Sarah Soubra), research technicians, and undergraduate trainees. Her lab receives funding for developing personalized neuromodulation strategies and investigating neural signatures of psychiatric disorders through multiple NIH-funded projects and industry collaborations.
The Provenza Lab operates within Baylor's Neurosurgery Research department with strong ties to Rice University's engineering programs. Current initiatives include the Honeycomb platform for reproducible psychophysiological tasks and PARRM for artifact removal during DBS, reflecting her dual focus on technical innovation and clinical impact for treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders.
