María Victoria Sánchez-Vives

Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer

Life & Medical Sciences

María V. Sanchez-Vives, MD, PhD in Neurosciences, has been ICREA Research Professor at the IDIBAPS (Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer) since 2008, where she is Head of the Systems Neuroscience group. She is also co-Director of the Event Lab (Experimental Virtual Environments in Neuroscience and Technology) and Adjunct Professor at the Dept. of Basic Psychology, University of Barcelona. She previously held a position as Associate Professor of Physiology and Group Leader at the Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante (UMH-CSIC). She was postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University and at Yale University. Her independent research has been supported by national and international agencies. Since 2013 she has been Chief Editor of Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience.


Research interests

Neuronal and connectivity properties determining the emergent activity generated by neuronal networks. Aspects of spontaneous rhythmic neural activity: its regulating mechanisms, the information it encodes, and the consequences of this activity upon the network. We use an experimental and computational approach, with an interest in neurotechnology. The integration of the cortical information giving rise to bodily representation and the combination of brain activity and virtual reality for understanding these processes is another research line that we are pursuing.

Selected publications

- D’Andola M, Rebollo B, Casali AG, Weinert JF,  Pigorini A, Villa R, Massimini M & Sanchez-Vives MV 2018, 'Bistability, Causality, and Complexity in Cortical Networks: An in Vitro Perturbational Study', Cerebral Cortex, 28, 7, 2233 - 2242.

- Rebollo B, Perez-Zabalza M, Ruiz-Mejias M, Perez-Mendez L & Sanchez-Vives MV 2018, 'Beta and gamma oscillations in prefrontal cortex during NMDA hypofunction: an in vitro model of schizophrenia features', Neuroscience, 383:138-149

- Seinfeld S, Arroyo-Palacios J, Iruretagoyena G, Hortensius R, Zapata LE, Borland D, de Gelder B, Slater M & Sanchez-Vives MV 2018, 'Offenders become the victim in virtual reality: impact of changing perspective in domestic violence', Scientific Reports 8: 2692.

- Suarez-Perez A et al. 2018, 'Quantification of signal-to-noise ratio in cerebral cortex recordings using flexible MEAs ...' Frontiers in Neural Technology 12: 862.

- Perez-Marcos D, Martini M, Fuentes CT, Rivas AIB, Haggard P &  Sanchez-Vives MV 2018, 'Selective distortion of body image by asynchronous visuotactile stimulation'.  Body Image24, 55-61.

- Pazzini L, Polese D, Weinert JF, Maiolo L, Maita F, Sanchez-Vives MV & Fortunato G 2018, 'An ultra-compact integrated system for brain activity recording and stimulation validated over cortical slow oscillations in vivo and in vitro', Scientific Reports 8: 16717


Selected research activities

- Local organizer of the intl workshop: "Understanding Consciousness", Barcelona

- Organizer of workshops at European Institute of Theoretical Neuroscience: "Brain states" and "Sleep and Aging" (Paris)

- Keynote speaker at "Augmentation of brain function" (Laussane) and "1st Intl Neuroscience Conference", Romania

Invited talks at intl conferences in Madrid (ECC15), Barcelona (“Does your brain need a body?”), Dresden (PRETRA 2018), EITN (Paris),      New York (NANS)

- Seminars: Univ of Pavia, Yale Univ, ICFO (Barcelona), Hospital Toledo

- TEDex talk at IESE