María Victoria Sánchez-Vives

María Victoria Sánchez-Vives

Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer

Life & Medical Sciences

Mavi Sanchez-Vives, MD, PhD in Neurosciences, has been ICREA Research Professor at the Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer since 2008, where she leads 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 was previously 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.


Research interests

Neuronal and network properties determining the emergent activity in the cerebral cortex. Spontaneous rhythmic neural activity: regulating mechanisms, information encoding, neuromodulation.Using 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

– Dasilva,  Camassa, Navarro-Guzman, Pazienti, Perez-Mendez, Zamora Lopez, Mattia, & Sanchez-Vives 2020 ‘Modulation of cortical slow oscillations and complexity across anesthesia levels‘. Neuroimage, Volume 224, 117415

– Perez-Zabalza, Reig, Manrique, Jercog, Winograd, Parga and Sanchez-Vives 2020, ‘ Modulation of cortical slow oscillatory rhythm by GABA(B)receptors: an in vitro experimental and computational study’. Journal of Physiology, 598(16), 3439-3457

– Dasilva, M., Navarro-Guzman, A., Ortiz-Romero, P., Camassa, A., Muñoz-Cespedes, A., Campuzano, V., and Sanchez-Vives, M.V. 2020, ‘Altered neocortical dynamics in a mouse model of Williams-Beuren syndrome‘. Molecular Neurobiology, 57(2), 765–777.

– Sanchez-Vives, M.V. 2020, ‘Origin and dynamics of cortical slow oscillations: ionic and synaptic mechanisms’. Current Opinion in Physiology, 15, 217-223.

– Garcia‐Cortadella at al 2020, ‘Distortion‐Free Sensing of Neural Activity Using Graphene Transistors’. Small, 16(16), 1906640.

– Balaguer-Ballester, Nogueira, Abolafia, Moreno-Bote & Sanchez-Vives 2020, ‘Representation of foreseeable choice outcomes in orbitofrontal cortex triplet-wise interactions’. PLoS Computational Biology, 16(6), e1007862.

– Matamala-Gomez, M., Nierula, B., Donegan, T., Slater, M., & Sanchez-Vives, M. V. 2020, ‘Manipulating the Perceived Shape and Color of a Virtual Limb Can Modulate Pain Responses’. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(2), 291.

– Donegan, Ryan, Swidrak and Sanchez-Vives 2020, ‘Immersive virtual reality for clinical pain: considerations for effective therapy’. Frontiers in Virtual Reality; 1:9.

– de Borst, Sanchez-Vives et al 2020, ‘First-Person Virtual Embodiment Modulates the Cortical Network that Encodes the Bodily Self and Its Surrounding Space during the Experience of Domestic Violence’. Eneuro, 7(3).

Selected research activities

– Leader of a Science Work Package in Human Brain Project (38 groups) and coordinator of EU project VRperGenere

– Director of 2 defended PhDs.