Mikhail Lebedev

Mikhail A. Lebedev (Михаил Альбертович Лебедев) is a Russian-born (1963) Neuroscientist known for his neurophysiological studies of cerebral cortex. Lebedev underwent undergraduate education at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, where he received a M.Sci degree in Physics of Living Systems in 1986. His diploma advisor was Victor Gurfinkel. Lebedev proceeded to work at Gurfinkel's laboratory (1986-1991) where he conducted studies in the field of human motor control. In 1991 he went to the USA to learn neurophysiological techniques of single-unit recordings from the brain of awake, behaving animals - the techniques pioneered by Edward Evarts. In pursue of this goal, Lebedev joined the laboratory of Randall Nelson at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, and, after conducting a series of studies of the primary somatosensory cortex, received a PhD degree in Neurobiology in 1995. He continued to study neurophysiology of somatosensory cortex with Mathew Diamond at SISSA, Italy (1995-1997). In 1997-2002 Lebedev investgated neuronal mechanisms of premotor and prefrontal cortex with Steven Wise at NIMH, Bethesda, Maryland. He currently works with Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University, where he applies multielectrode recording techniques to a range of neurophysiological problems, including brain computer interfaces.

Lebedev's research of human motor control conducted in Russia includes studies of postural automatisms, Kohnstamm's phenomenon, neck reflexes, ischemic suppression of muscle fibers and effects of vibratory stimulation on posture and electromyographic activity (tonic vibration reflex). His neurophysiological research addresses cortical plasticity, neural oscillations, neural correlates of cognition and brain-computer interfaces. In the study of neuronal encoding of attention and memory in prefrontal cortex (Attention versus memory in prefrontal cortex), Lebedev and his colleagues challenged the working memory theory of prefrontal cortex. Lebedev and colleagues recently demonstrated cortical plasticity during operation of brain-machine interfaces.

Press Releases

 * Arms and the Monkey: From Real to Robotic
 * How Brain-operated Machines Can Be Stable, Functional
 * Monkeys Treat Robot Arm as Their Own
 * Monkeys treat robot arm as bonus appendage
 * Monkey See, Robotics Do
 * Мозг высших приматов отличается "расширяемостью"
 * МОЗГ ВЫСШИХ ПРИМАТОВ МОЖЕТ УПРАВЛЯТЬ ЛИШНИМИ КОНЕЧНОСТЯМИ?
 * Мозг обезьяны изменяется при работе с роботизированной рукой

Selected publications

 * Lebedev, M.A., Carmena, J.M., O’Doherty, J.E., Zacksenhouse, M., Henriquez, C.S., Principe, J.C., Nicolelis, M.A.L. (2005) Cortical ensemble adaptation to represent actuators controlled by a brain machine interface. J. Neurosci. 25: 4681-4693.
 * Santucci, D.M., Kralik, J.D., Lebedev, M.A., Nicolelis, M.A.L. (2005) Frontal and parietal cortical ensembles predict single-trial muscle activity during reaching movements. Eur. J. Neurosci., 22: 1529-1540.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Messinger, A., Kralik, J.D., Wise, S.P. (2004) Representation of attended versus remembered locations in prefrontal cortex. PLoS Biology, 2: 1919-1935.
 * Carmena, J.M., Lebedev, M.A., Crist, R.E., O’Doherty, J.E., Santucci, D.M., Dimitrov, D.F., Patil, P.G., Henriquez, C.S., Nicolelis, M.A.L. (2003) Learning to control a brain-machine interface for reaching and grasping by primates. PLoS Biology, 1: 193-208.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Wise, S.P. (2002) Insights into seeing and grasping: distinguishing the neural correlates of perception and action. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 1: 108-129.
 * Erchova, I.A., Lebedev, M.A., Diamond, M.E. (2002) Somatosensory cortical neuronal population activity across states of anaesthesia. Eur. J. Neurosci. 15: 744-752.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Wise, S.P. (2001) Tuning for the orientation of spatial attention in dorsal premotor cortex. Eur. J. Neurosci., 13: 1002-1008.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Douglass, D.K., Moody, S.L., Wise, S.P. (2001) Prefrontal cortex neurons reflecting reports of a visual illusion. J. Neurophysiol., 85: 1395-1411.
 * Panzeri, S., Petersen, R.S., Schultz, S.R., Lebedev, M.A., Diamond, M.E. (2001) The role of spike timing in the coding of stimulus location in rat somatosensory cortex. Neuron, 29: 769-777.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Mirabella, G., Erchova, I., Diamond, M.E. (2000) Experience-dependent plasticity of rat barrel cortex: redistribution of activity across barrel-columns. Cerebral Cortex, 10: 23-31.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Wise, S.P. (2000) Oscillations in the premotor cortex: single-unit activity from awake, behaving monkeys. Exp. Brain Res., 130: 195-215.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Nelson, R.J. (1999) Rhythmically firing neostriatal neurons in monkeys: activity patterns during reaction-time hand movements. J. Neurophysiol., 82: 1832-1842.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Nelson, R.J. (1996) High-frequency vibratory sensitive neurons in monkey primary somatosensory cortex: entrained and non-entrained responses to vibration during the performance of vibratory-cued hand movements. Exp. Brain Res. 111: 313-325.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Nelson, R.J. (1995) Rhythmically firing (20-50 Hz) neurons in monkey primary somatosensory cortex: activity patterns during initiation of vibratory-cued hand movements. J. Comput. Neurosci. 2: 313-334.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Denton, J.M., Nelson, R.J. (1994) Vibration-entrained and premovement activity in monkey primary somatosensory cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 72: 1654-1673.
 * Gurfinkel, V.S., Lebedev, M.A., Levick, Yu.S. (1992) What about the so-called neck reflexes in humans? In: A. Bertoz, W. Graf, P. P. Vidal (Eds) Head-Neck Sensory Motor System, New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press: 543-547.
 * Gurfinkel, V.S., Lebedev, M.A., Levik, Yu.S. (1992) Switching effect in the system of equilibrium regulation in man. Neirofiziologiya (Kiev) 24: 462-470. Translation into English: Neurophysiology 24: 297-304.
 * Gurfinkel, V.S., Lebedev, M.A., Levik, Yu.S. (1992) The sensory effects caused by neck afferentation. Sensory Systems 6: 83-87.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Polyakov, A.V. (1992) Analysis of surface EMG of human soleus muscle subjected to vibration. J. Electromyography and Kinesiology 2: 26-35.
 * Gurfinkel, V.S., Levick, Yu.S. Lebedev, M.A. (1991) Body scheme concept and motor control. Body scheme in the postural automatisms regulation. In: Intellectual Processes and Their Modelling, Moscow, Nauka: 24-53.
 * Lebedev, M.A. (1991) Impairment of human soleus motor units during ischemia. J. Electromyography and Kinesiology 1: 244-249.
 * Lebedev, M.A., Polyakov, A.V. (1991) Analysis of the interference electromyogram of human soleus muscle after exposure to vibration. Neirofiziologiya (Kiev) 23: 57-65. Translation into English: Neurophysiology 23: 47-54.
 * Gurfinkel, V.S., Levik, Yu.S., Lebedev, M.A. (1989) Immediate and remote postactivation effects in the human motor system. Neirofiziologiya (Kiev) 21: 343-351. Translation into English: Neurophysiology 21: 247-253.
 * Gurfinkel, V.S., Levik, Yu.S., Lebedev, M.A. (1989) Postural automatisms revealed by enhancement of the tonic background. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR 305:1266-1269.

Лебедев, Михаил Альбертович