Javier is a biomedical engineer and former PhD student at Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he focused on neurostimulation for treating epilepsy, serving as a bridge to study pain. Building on this background, he is involved in research aimed at improving pain management. Traditional neuromodulation often operates in an open-loop manner, delivering stimulation without considering the patient’s physiological state. Our project addresses this by developing a closed-loop system that uses real-time physiological signals to guide transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS). By adapting stimulation to the body’s responses, this approach offers more timely and effective pain relief, creating a personalized and dynamic strategy for neuromodulation.

When we touch something warm or cold, our brain must quickly interpret these temperature cues to learn about the environment, maintain homeostasis, and protect the body. Yet thermosensation is a surprisingly noisy sense: because of its unique neuroanatomy, temperature signals reach the brain with more variability and delay than those of other sensory systems. What does the brain do when faced with such uncertain information?

My work explores what makes thermosensory signals so noisy, and whether (and how) the nervous system navigates this uncertainty. To probe these questions, I develop computational models that capture how the brain infers temperature from ambiguous input, and I test them against behavioural measures (reaction times, choices) and neurophysiological recordings (EEG). Through this approach, I aim to uncover the principles that allow the brain to interpret temperature reliably despite noisy and delayed sensory evidence.

Using electrophysiological recordings and experimental manipulations, I study how ongoing brain oscillations shape the perception of pain. My current work includes intracerebral EEG recordings to examine how oscillatory activity in the human insula relates to sustained thermonociceptive stimulation. In collaboration with the University of Trento (IT), I also explore the link between oscillations and pain from a more causal perspective by modulating cortical excitability with a brain-state-dependent high-frequency rTMS paradigm and assessing its impact on perception and processing of thermonociceptive stimuli.

Iqra completed her PhD within the framework of MSCA-ITN H2020 project multitouch. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher working jointly with Giulia Liberati at UCLouvain and Jan Van den Stock at KU Leuven as part of the Weave FWO project. Her post-doctoral research investigates the neural representations underlying thermoception and social cognition within the insular cortex. By combining intracerebral EEG recordings in epileptic patients with insular implants and fMRI–behavioral assessments in patients with frontotemporal dementia, this project aims to unravel how the insula supports thermoceptive and socioemotional functions, and how their disruption contributes to neurodegenerative disorders.

Our research project is centered on the innovative field of neuromodulation for pain intervention by using the transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to modulate the oscillatory activities within neuronal circuits to understand how neuromodulation affects both the oscillatory brain activity, measured through electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, and the subjective experience of pain. We will incorporate machine learning algorithms and connectivity analysis to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying neural processes associated with pain. The ultimate goal of our project is to develop a novel closed-loop neuromodulation system. This system will dynamically stimulate the brain based on real-time EEG activity, creating a responsive and potentially more effective solution for pain management. Our work not only contributes to the understanding of brain oscillations in pain perception but also opens new avenues for more effective, personalized therapeutic interventions for pain management.

When we feel pain, our brain automatically locates it but also detects, through our vision, what provokes it. Thus it coordinates different sensory modalities: touch and perception of pain to monitor our body, and vision to track our environment. If vision and feeling pain are coordinated by the brain, what happens if one of these two senses is disrupted? Lieve Filbrich tries to answer that question. We want to analyse what happens at the visual level if we suffer chronic pain, and more specifically in the space that surrounds the afflicted limb.