Systems Neural Engineering Laboratory
Prof. Vasileios Christopoulos
Assistant Professor | Bioengineering UC Riverside
vchristo@usc.edu | Google Scholar
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Prof. Vasileios Christopoulos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). He also holds positions as a Visiting Associate in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Before joining USC, Prof. Christopoulos was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Riverside. He earned his BSc in Industrial Engineering from the Technical University of Crete, Greece, and completed his PhD in Computer Science with a minor in Cognitive Sciences at the University of Minnesota. He has also served as Research Faculty and Director of Neurotechnology at the T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center at Caltech.​​
Post-doctoral scholars
Kofi Agyeman, PhD
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Biomedical Engineering, USC
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Kofi was graduated from Columbia University with a BSc in Electrical Engineering. He then received a MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the City College of New York and a PhD from the Bioengineering department of UC Riverside. His research interests focus on functional ultrasound imaging in neurological research. He is also exploring innovative imaging data processing and interpretable machine learning tools that can be leveraged to decode neural correlates of induced functional changes from measurements of transient cerebral and spinal cord hemodynamic changes.
Shan Zhong, MSc
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Biomedical Engineering, USC​
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Shan received his BSc in Biological Science in 2016, MSc degree in Neurobiology in 2020 at University of Science and Technology of China, and a PhD from the Neuroscience graduate program at UC Riverside. He is studying the mechanism of action-based decision making and motor control, and investigating the functional deficits in action regulation in neurological disorders.
Graduate students
Helma Zareian, MD
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PhD student | Biophysics, UC Riverside
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Helma graduated from medical school in 2023 and completed her medical internship at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran. During medical school, she worked as a research assistant in the neurology department and Systems Artificial Intelligence Network, gaining insight into bridging the gap between neurodegenerative disorders and artificial intelligence. Her research focuses on Functional Ultrasound Imaging (fUSI) of the nervous system. She is an aspiring physician and believes that addressing complex problems in today's world is impossible unless we embrace interdisciplinary methods.
Argishti Stepanian, MSc
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PhD student | Neuroscience, UC Riverside
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Argishti received his BSc in Physiology & Neuroscience from UC San Diego in 2017 and his MSc in Biology at Cal State LA in 2020. During his MSc project, he examined the role of inflammation on the amyloid beta peptide in Alzheimer’s disease. Argishti has also worked in care roles for those suffering from physical and mental disabilities and intends to conduct research on neural imaging and intervention modalities for neurological disease.
Undergaduate students
Erik Hakopian (MSRIP and UC LEADS recipient) ​
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BSc student | Neuroscience UC Riverside
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Erik is a neuroscience undergraduate at UCR with a background in Computer science. He is interested in a future where humans can transfer and upload complex logic/knowledge/information to their brains in a matter of seconds and increase the bandwidth of the conscious human brain. Thus, he is interested in researching the mechanisms behind the brain’s memory, how it stores and recalls information, and novel ways to record brain signals. Besides neuroscience, in his undergraduate path, he is focused on gathering and strengthening his knowledge in interdisciplinary fields such as computer science, electrical engineering, signal processing, and machine learning to make this future a reality.
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Alumni
Graduate students
Harpreet Multani ​
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MSc student | Bioengineering UC Riverside
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Harpreet graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a BSc in Bioengineering. Currently, he is a graduate student at the University of California, Riverside attaining his MS in Bioengineering. He is interested in research within brain-machine interfacing and brain mapping.
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New Position: Engineer at HP Communications, Inc.
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Undergraduate students
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Shanze Syed (MSRIP recipient) ​
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BSc student | Bioengineering UC Riverside
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Shanze is a Bioengineering student at UCR interested in exploring the realm of neuroengineering. Her research interests include understanding the mechanism of cognitive and motor control and using neuromodulation methodologies to restore these functions.
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New Position: Graduate student of Bioengineering at UCSD
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Richard Tobing ​
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BSc student | Computer Science UC Riverside
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Richard is a 4th year computer science student at UCR currently pursuing his Bachelor's degree. Richard is interested in the intersection between computer science and neuroscience. He aims to use AI-based tools to aid in the study of neuroscience. In the long term, he wants to attain a greater understanding of the human mind and its growing relationship with technology because he believes that similarities can be drawn between the complex silicon constructions in our laptops, and the organic mound of grey matter encapsulated in our skulls.
New Position: AI Trainer / Prompt Engineer
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Houssam Nasser ​
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Bsc student | Biology UC Riverside
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Houssam is a premed Biology major at UCR. He is graduating in Fall 2021 with a Bachelor of Science Degree. He wants to take a gap year to get involved in medically related research before he goes to medical school. He thinks that assisting Dr. Christopoulos in his research to investigate the mechanisms underlying decision-making and study dysfunctional circuits in neurological disorder is a great opportunity to meet these objectives. Houssam also has a special interest in learning how to use novel imaging techniques and interpret data.
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Sandy Wahba​
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BSc student | Bioengineering UC Riverside
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Sandy Wahba is an undergraduate bioengineering student at UCR. She is currently interested in brain-machine interphase and motor learning for exploring circuit dysfunctions in neurological disorders.
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New Position: Shield T3 LLC
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Tiffany Doan
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BSc student | Bioengineering UC Riverside
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Tiffany Doan is an undergraduate students in bioengineering and computational mathematics at the University of California, Riverside. Her research interests generally lie in infant systematic neuroscience and biomechanics.
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New Position: Associate Quality Engineer at Abbott
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Merril Ghabour
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BSc student | Bioengineering UC Riverside
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Merril Ghabour is a Biomedical Engineering major at UCR. She is currently in her 4th year, and is working towards a 5th year to graduate with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Spring 2022. She is assisting Dr. Christopoulos in his research lab to discover the mechanisms underlying spatial awareness, decision making, and motor learning.
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John-Paul Sassine
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BSc student | Computer Science UC Riverside
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John-Paul Sassine is pursuing a BSc in Computer Science at the University of California, Riverside. Interested in Blockchain decentralization, Smart Contracts, Back-End Systems, Web3, and the symbiosis between man and machine through the growing development of Brain-Machine Interfaces.
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New Position: Software Engineering Intern at FORMLESS
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Lauren Tran​
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BSc student | Psychology UC Riverside
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Lauren Tran is pursuing a BSc in Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. She is interested in computational neuroscience, decision-making and neural prosthetics.
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New Position: ​California State University, Long Beach
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