Fernando H. Lopes da Silva
Received the M.D. from the University of Lisbon (1959) and the Ph.D. degree from the
University of Utrecht (1970).
Present position: Emeritus Professor, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Research Coordinator. Dept of BioEngineering, Lisbon Institute of
Technology, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal.
Research Topics: The electrophysiology and biophysics of brain systems, in particular
the origin and functional organization of rhythmic activities of the brain and the origin of
epileptic phenomena using EEG/MEG and fMRI as well as computational modeling.
Main scientific achievements:
- the discovery of the cortical origin of the alpha rhythm of the brain;
- the discovery of the network responsible for the initiation of Absence epileptic
seizures (Cortical focus theory);
- the discovery of novel biomarkers of epileptogenicity;
- the invention of new neural mass dynamic models of brain activities.
Professional activities:
Professor of Neurophysiology (from 1975 to 1985) at Twente University (program BioMedical Engineering). Full professor of General Physiology at the Faculty of Sciences at
the University of Amsterdam in 1980 (since 2000 he is Emeritus Professor).
From 1995 to 2002, he was Scientific Director of the Institute of Epilepsy (Heemstede).
Since 2000 he is invited Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon
and since 2005 Part-time Professor (Research Coordinator) of the Lisbon Institute of
Technology in the framework of the post-graduate Program in Bio-Medical Engineering.
Scientific Honors:
In 1985: elected member of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences.. He
received degrees of Doctor Honoris Causa (Universities of Lisbon, Porto and Helsinki),
the Herbert H. Jasper Award of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, the
Ragnar Granit prize for his work in the field of Bioelectromagnetism.
10 Main publications:
- Schomer D and Lopes da Silva F, (eds.) Niedermeyer’s Electroencephalography. Basic Principles,
th
clinical applications, and related fields. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1256 pp. (6 Edition) 2011. - (1325
citations)
- Lopes da Silva FH; Vos JE; Mooibroek J, van Rotterdam, A. Relative contributions of intra-cortical
and thalamo-cortical processes in the generation of alpha rhythms, revealed by partial coherence
analysis. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology. 50 (5-6): 449-456. 1980. (162
Citations)
- Steriade M Gloor P; Llinas RR; Lopes da Silva, FH, Mesulam, MM Basic Mechanisms of Cerebral
Rhythmic Activities. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 76 (6) : 481-508: Dec 1990.
(634 Citations)
- Lopes da Silva FH; Witter MP; Boeijinga PH; Lohman, AM. Anatomic organization and Physiology of
the limbic cortex. Physiological Reviews, 70 (2): 453-511 APR 1990. (236 Citations)
- Pijn JP; van Neerven J; Noest A; Lopes da Silva, FH. .Chaos or Noise in EEG signals - dependence
on state and brain site. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology. 79 (5 ): 371-381. Nov
1991. (260 Citations).
- Pfurtscheller G, Lopes da Silva FH. Event-related EEG/MEG synchronization and
desynchronization: basic principles. Clin Neurophysiol. 1999 Nov;110(11):1842- 1857. – (1124
Citations).
- Meeren HKM; Pijn JPM; Van Luijtelaar ELJ; Coenen, AM, Lopes da Silva, FH. Cortical focus drives
widespread corticothalamic networks during spontaneous absence seizures in rats. Journal of
Neuroscience, 2002. 22 (4): 1480-1495.- (321 citations).
- Lopes da Silva FH; Blanes W; Kalitzin SN; Parra, J, Suffczynski, P. Velis, DN. Epilepsies as
dynamical diseases of brain systems: Basic models of the transition between normal and epileptic
activity. EPILEPSIA 44 (12) : 72-83. 2003. (89 Citations)
- Meeren, H; van Luijtelaar, G; Lopes da Silva, FH; Coenen, A. Evolving concepts on the
pathophysiology of absence seizures - The cortical focus theory. Archives of Neurology, 62 (3): 371376, March 2005.(127 Citations)
- Pfurtscheller, G; Brunner, C; Schlogl, A; Lopes da Silva, FH, Mu rhythm (de)synchronization and EEG
single-trial classification of different motor imagery tasks. Neuroimage 31(1): 153-159., May 15 2006,
(137 citations)
5 Publications of the last 3 years :
- de Munck JC, Gonçalves SI, Mammoliti R, Heethaar RM, Lopes da Silva FH. Interactions between
different EEG frequency bands and their effect on alpha-fMRI correlations. Neuroimage. 2009 Aug
1;47(1):69-76. (19 Citations)
- Kalitzin Stiliyan N.; Velis Demetrios N.; Lopes da Silva Fernando H. Stimulation-based anticipation
and control of state transitions in the epileptic brain. - Epilepsy & Behavior , 17 (3): 310-323 Mar 2010
(6 Citations)
- Koppert M. M. J.; Kalitzin S.; Lopes da Silva F. H.; Viergever MA. Plasticity-modulated seizure
dynamics for seizure termination in realistic neuronal models. Journal of Neural Engineering . 8
(4) Article Number: 046027. Aug 2011.
- Kalitzin Stiliyan; Koppert Marcus; Petkov George; Velis, D and Lopes da Silva, FH.
Computational model prospective on the observation of proictal states in epileptic neuronal
systems. Epilepsy & Behavior. 22:S102-S109. Dec 2011.
- Pfurtscheller G, Bauernfeind G, Neuper C, Lopes da Silva FH. Does conscious intention to perform a
motor act depend on slow prefrontal (de)oxyhemoglobin oscillations in the resting brain? Neurosci Lett.
2012 Feb 6;508(2):89-94.
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