Debashis Das Chakladar
Debashis Das Chakladar joined as an Excellent postdoctoral researcher in the Machine Learning group in August 2023. He works mainly with the brain analysis research group and his special focus is on analysing electroencephalogram (EEG) data for different applications such as cognitive tasks and clinical tasks.
He obtained his PhD degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, one of the top-ranking institutes in India. This is where he found his passion for EEG and has since conducted research revolving around brain connectivity networks. Before joining the Luleå University of Technology, he was associated as a visiting scientist at the Indian Statistical Institute, where he worked on face perception tasks using EEG.
Our brain is complex, when we think and carry out different tasks, different brain regions (like frontal, parietal, occipital, etc.) get activated. These activated regions are often connected through some statistical measures to create the brain connectivity network.
– It was at Roorkee my journey with EEG and looking closer at cognitive tasks began. During my PhD, I built some deep learning models and wrote some algorithms to find out the workload levels of different cognitive tasks. Moreover, I also identified the changes in brain connectivity networks when carrying out different cognitive tasks.
At Luleå University of Technology, Debashis mainly focuses on research related to Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). More specifically how the attention span and brain activity differ between non-ADHD and ADHD participants. This is done by looking at the brain activity while they are doing some cognitive tasks.
– During this experiment, we identify the activated brain regions for ADHD and non-ADHD participants. Along with EEG analysis, we also perform statistical analysis to validate the EEG results. We also perform the ADHD analysis for different age groups: children and adolescents, to find out how the brain activation changes with increasing of participant’s age. Apart from EEG, recently, I also started working in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)-based health care applications.
Neuroscientists and doctors who work with people suffering from ADHD can take tremendous amounts of help from this type of research. By observing different activation regions or connectivity patterns in EEG, doctors or neuroscientists can accomplish clinical assessment and behavioural studies for ADHD and non-ADHD participants.
– Another important step in the research is the temporal aspect. That is why we are looking at changes in brain activation over time for ADHD patients with different age groups. For instance, your brain might create a connection between frontal-temporal brain lobes during the first minute of a cognitive task. However, it will make another connection with occipital-temporal brain lobes 5 minutes later, which is also an important aspect to keep in mind, Debashis explains.
Debashis was recommended to start at Luleå University of Technology by a former senior who is currently also part of the Brain Analysis group. But there are many more reasons why he chose to move to Sweden.
– From a research perspective Sweden is great. The funding is better and research is more open here, you can participate in more conferences, meet more people, and create strong networks all of which are very important for a researcher’s career, he says and continues:
– Naturally, I miss India, my home, however, Luleå is less crowded and the temperature is lower which is nice. It also has a natural beauty to it which I like. The Machine Learning group is great, they are all very helpful which has been nice. Specifically, the mentorship from Professor Marcus Liwicki and Associate Professor Foteini Liwicki has been outstanding in shaping my career path. I am diligently focusing on my research and writing projects, with the goal of creating a prominent brain analysis team at Luleå University of Technology that will be recognized globally in the near future.
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