Assistant Professor |
Department of Neurosurgery | Rutgers RWJMS
Dr. Qasim’s research, at the nexus of neural engineering and cognitive science, seeks to understand how electrical signals in the human brain encode experiences into memories, and how this process goes wrong in neurological and psychiatric disorders. His lab investigates this question by combining cutting-edge approaches in human brain recording and stimulation, statistical machine learning, and computational assessments of human cognition. The goal of this work is to produce new neurotechnological approaches to preventing and treating memory dysfunction.
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Education:
Bachelor of Arts (with Honors), Cognitive Science, 2013
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Bachelor of Arts, Molecular and Cellular Biology, 2013
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Doctor of Philosophy, Biomedical Engineering, 2020
Columbia University, New York, NY
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Psychiatry, 2024
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
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Awards:
- K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, National Institute of Mental Health (2023-2028)
- Lasker Foundation Essay Contest (2023)
- Yuen-huo Hung and Chao-chin Huang Award in Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University (2021)
- Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation (2016-2019)
- IEEE Brain Control Interface Hackathon, Temple University (2016)
- Prize in Personal Integrity, Berkeley Center for the Study of Values (2013)
- Good Neighbor Award, American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter (2012)
- Leadership Award, Cal Alumni Association (2011)
- Lili Fabilli and Eric Hoffer Essay Contest (2010)
- Leadership Award, Cal Alumni Association (2009)
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Research Interests:
- Learning and Memory
- Neuroengineering
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Publications:
Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications
Qasim, S.E., Aarushi Deswal, Saez I., Gu X. (2024). Positive affect modulates memory by regulating the influence of reward prediction errors. Communications Psychology, 2, 52.
Gedankian, T., Tan R., Qasim, S.E., Jacobs J., Lega B. (2023). Acetylcholine modulates memory-related theta oscillations in the human hippocampal formation. Nature Communications, 14, 5283.
Qasim, S.E., Mohan U.R., Stein J.M., Jacobs J. (2023). Neuronal activity in the human amygdala and hippocampus enhances emotional memory encoding. Nature Human Behavior, 7, 754–764.
Qasim, S.E., Fried I., Jacobs J. (2021). Phase precession in the human hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. Cell, 184(12), 3242-3255.
Goyal, A., Miller, J., Qasim, S.E., Watrous, A.J., Stein, J., Inman, C., Gross R., Willie, J. T., Lega, B., Lin, J.-J., Sharan, A., Wu, C, Sperling, M.R., Sheth, S., McKhann, G., Smith, E.H., Schevon, C., Jacobs J. (2020). Functionally distinct high and low theta oscillations in the human hippocampus. Nature Communications, 11, 2469.
Qasim, S.E., Miller, J., Inman, C., Gross R., Willie, J. T., Lega, B., Lin, J.-J., Sharan, A., Wu, C, Sperling, M.R., Sheth, S., McKhann, G., Smith, E.H., Schevon, C., Stein, J., Jacobs J. (2019). Memory retrieval modulates spatial tuning of single neurons in the human entorhinal cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 22, 2078-2086.
Watrous, A.J., Miller, J., Qasim, S.E., Fried, I., Jacobs J. (2018). Phase-tuned neuronal firing encodes human contextual representations for navigational goals. eLife, 7, e32554.
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Book Chapters:
Qasim, S.E., Kunz L. (2023). How Is Single-Neuron Activity Related to LFP Oscillations? In: Axmacher, N. (eds) Intracranial EEG. Studies in Neuroscience, Psychology and Behavioral Economics. Springer, Cham.
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Location:
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Medical Education Building
25-55 French St
New Brunswick, NJ 08901