Professor and Department Head
Anatomy and Neurobiology
Email Website Contact Info More Publications
Our laboratory studies the structure and function of mammalian cerebral cortex using novel methods of computerized brain mapping. We have developed an integrated suite of software tools for surface-based analyses of cerebral cortex. We have also developed surface-based atlases for studies of primate (human and macaque monkey) and rodent (rat and mouse) cerebral and cerebellar cortex that are accessible via the SumsDB database (http://sumsdb.wustl.edu/sums/) and online visualization software. These atlases provide a substrate for a growing compendium of published experimental data that can be easily accessed and searched.
Human cerebral cortex is no for the complexity of its convolutions and for their variability from one individual to the next. Using the human ‘PALS’ atlas developed in our laboratory, we are testing for abnormal cortical folding patterns in a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. In Williams Syndrome, for example, we have identified several dozen distinct folding abnormalities arranged in a strikingly symmetric pattern in the two hemispheres.
Neurophysiological studies in our laboratory focus on mechanisms of form processing and pattern recognition in visual cortex of the macaque monkey. We are particularly interested in the transformations in neuronal receptive field characteristics that occur at early and intermediate processing stages.
Our computational efforts aim to develop a unified mathematical framework for modeling large-scale neural systems, including the primate visual system. This framework is grounded in the well-established principles of signal processing, statistical inference, and good engineering design, and it provides a rational and robust strategy for simulating and evaluating the function of a wide variety of specific neural circuits.
Research Photos (Click to Enlarge)
Research Publications
Van Essen DC, Dierker DL (2007 Oct 25). Surface-based and probabilistic atlases of primate cerebral cortex. Neuron. 56 (2): 209-25. Full Article >
Nordahl CW, Dierker D, Mostafavi I, Schumann CM, Rivera SM, Amaral DG, Van Essen DC (2007 Oct 24). Cortical folding abnormalities in autism revealed by surface-based morphometry. J Neurosci. 27 (43): 11725-35. Full Article >
Anzai A, Peng X, Van Essen DC (2007 Oct). Neurons in monkey visual area V2 encode combinations of orientations. Nat Neurosci. 10 (10): 1313-1321. Full Article >
Van Essen DC, Dierker D, Snyder AZ, Raichle ME, Reiss AL, Korenberg J (2006 May 17). Symmetry of cortical folding abnormalities in Williams syndrome revealed by surface-based analyses. J Neurosci. 26 (20): 5470-83. Full Article >
Vincent JL, Patel GH, Fox MD, Snyder AZ, Baker JT, Van Essen DC, Zempel JM, Snyder LH, Corbetta M, Raichle ME (2007 May 3). Intrinsic functional architecture in the anaesthetized monkey brain. Nature. 447 (7140): 83-6. Full Article >
Van Essen DC (2005 Nov 15). A Population-Average, Landmark- and Surface-based (PALS) atlas of human cerebral cortex. Neuroimage. 28 (3): 635-62. Full Article >
Contact Info
David Van Essen, Ph.D.
Office Location: 203 East McDonnell Sci Bldg
Office Phone: 314-362-7043
Lab Phone: 747-2150
Fax: 747-3436
vanessen@brainvis.wustl.edu
http://brainvis.wustl.edu
