Anli A. Liu, MD

Memory dysfunction represents one of the most common cognitive complaints in patients with epilepsy, and significantly impairs quality of life.  My lab's work aims to (1) better describe memory function in the context of everyday life, and (2) remediate memory impairment, through rigorous exploration of the mechanisms of memory, its dysfunction, and potential therapeutic techniques. Toward this end, we use a variety of tools, including cognitive testing, invasive and scalp EEG, and neurostimulation. We hope to translate the insights gained from cognitive neuroscience and basic neuroscience into the clinical realm. Our lab’s main research goals are:

1. To characterize the diverse repertoire of memory functions (and their failures) in epilepsy patients in everyday life.  

2. To determine the neurobiology of memory processing and its disruption in epilepsy patients.  A deep mechanistic understanding of how and when memory fails in epilepsy patients is foundational to rationally-guided therapeutic interventions.

3. To develop methods of neuromodulation to restore neural rhythms supporting memory function. We are exploring a variety of techniques, including transcranial electrical stimulation (alternating and direct current), acoustic stimulation, direct electrical stimulation, and transcranial magnetic stimulation, to modulate rhythms important to memory function.  

Our lab works in close collaboration with a dynamic group of basic scientists, cognitive neuroscientists, biomedical engineers, data scientists, neuropsychologists, and physicians. Our intellectual home is within the NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and the NYU ECoG Group. We belong to a vibrant research community which includes NYU Grossman School of Medicine, NYU Langone's Neuroscience Institute, the NYU Center for Neural Science, and the NYU Center for Data Science.