On-Site True Research Laboratories
A TOUR OF THE NORMAN FIXEL INSTITUTE FOR NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES AT UF HEALTH

research stations
  • Fixel Institute researchers and clinical teams asked the critical question of how to marry clinical care with translational and basic research. The concept the team embraced was mini-research laboratories equipped with rooms for graduate students and researchers, as well as dedicated research examination rooms to collect blood and cerebrospinal fluid and to perform research studies or to evaluate research subjects.
  • The five mini-laboratories include:
    • Biomarkers (led by Drs. McFarland, Ranum and Wymer)
    • Physiology, transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct stimulation (led by Drs. Shukla and Hess).
    • Neuromodulation, brain mapping and imaging (led by Drs. Gunduz, Okun and Foote).
    • Neuropsychology and psychophysiology, including startled, facial expressions, seat responses, pupil responses (led by Drs. Bowers, Bauer and Price).
  • The Institute also recently appointed a director of neurotechnology, Dr. Christopher Hess, to drive this mission into the next generation and to work with Dr. David Vaillancourt to build an imaging pipeline.
  • There are over 10 Master’s and PhD programs focused on projects involving Fixel Institute patients and Fixel Institute diseases.
  • The research laboratories were made possible by a donation from The Rembert Family Foundation.