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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><h2><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>PhD Dissertation Defense<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";text-transform:uppercase'>Functional Tests of Atypical Connectivity in the Autistic Brain Using Magnetoencephalography<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Mehmet Akif Coskun<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Date: Wednesday, April 24<sup>th</sup> 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Location: </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Electrical & Computer Engineering Conference Room, Engr Bldg 1<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> Time: </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>1:00 pm – 3:00 pm<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Committee Chair: </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr. </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bhavin Sheth<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Committee Members:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr. Haluk Ogmen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr. David Francis<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:3.5in;text-indent:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr.Badrinath Roysam<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr.Bruno Breitmeyer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:black'>We </span>tested four candidate neural biomarkers of autism using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine the cortical response to passive tactile stimulation of the thumb and index finger of the dominant hand and lip of individuals with and without autism. 1) Individuals with autism have bigger brains early in development. We found the distance between the cortical representations of thumb and lip was significantly larger in the autism group, but not for the representations of the index finger and lip. 2) Autistic brains have noisy synapses. The hypothesis predicts increased variability in the response to touch. We did not find higher variability in the evoked response to tactile stimulation in autism<span style='color:black'>, arguing against the noisy synapse hypothesis. 3) Lower level of inhibition in brain circuits of autism is a leading biomarker candidate. The amplitude of cortical response to the stimulation of adjacent fingers is governed by the level of cortical inhibition, and is a physiological test. A comparison of the two groups found a difference in the direction opposite that of prediction. We also examined neural adaptation to prolonged stimulation as cortical inhibition levels, at least in part, controls its extent. </span>Contrary to prediction, the somatosensory cortex of individuals with autism adapts to touch to the same extent as control. <span style='color:black'>4) Another leading candidate biomarker is local overconnectivity. </span>When a digit is stimulated, i.e. touched, its representation in the cortex is directly activated; local intracortical connections indirectly activate non-primary cortical representations corresponding to adjacent digits. Local overconnectivity in autism implies higher nonprimary/primary response ratios, which we did not observe. The results were more consistent with local underconnectivity instead. <span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>