Unlocking the brain

Unlocking the brain
Tianming Liu

Editor’s note: This video profile is part of a series about UGA faculty who were named Distinguished Research Professors in 2017.

Tianming Liu, professor of computer science, is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of brain imaging and mapping.

In addition to building a fundamental understanding of the brain, his research has enabled our understanding of the relationship between brain anatomy and function, with applications to medical and surgical interventions and the treatment of psychological and psychiatric disorders.

Highlights of Liu’s distinguished record include the discovery of a novel mechanism of cerebral cortex folding, which offers a general framework for describing and modeling the anatomical connectional and functional architectures of the brain.

His research group developed a map of the human brain named DICCCOL, which shows great promise as a new guide to the inner workings of the body’s most complex and critical organ.

Recently, Liu and his group developed holistic atlases of functional networks and interactions, and he discovered and characterized the interactions between external multimedia streams and the brain’s functional responses.