Renan C. Moioli

I'm an assistant professor/lecturer at the Digital Metropolis Institute from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. I have a B. Sc. in Electrical Engineering (2006) and a M. Sc. in Computer Engineering (2008) from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil, working within the Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Bioinspired Computing (LBiC), and a D. Phil. in Cognitive Science from the University of Sussex (2013), UK, working at the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR). Previously, I was with the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), part of the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD), located in Macaiba, state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. I am interested in developing and applying computational intelligence solutions to real world problems. I am deeply inspired by how our brain works, how single neuron spikes and multi-neuron oscillatory rhythms relate to animal cognition and behaviour. I have been addressing this topic through two lines of research. First, I develop computational intelligence methods for extracting features and recognise patterns from recorded neural data (spikes, LFP, and EEG). Second, I develop computational models with biologically informed constraints that can be selectively altered, which can be used to test hypotheses and to advance our understanding about the underlying mechanisms of the brain. I have used this approach in developing brain-machine interfaces and in characterising the neural mechanisms of rodent tactile discrimination and non-human primate models of Parkinson’s disease. Eventually, I believe this approach may contribute to novel, more intelligent computational solutions, with applications to the health system and broad industry sectors. Topics of interest: computational intelligence, bioinformatics, machine learning, signal processing, neurorobotics, brain-machine interfaces, artificial intelligence