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{{Short description|Spanish computational neuroscientist}}
{{Short description|Spanish computational neuroscientist}}


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|caption = Alfonso Nieto-Castanon in 2016
|caption = Alfonso Nieto-Castanon in 2016
| birth_date = September 1972
| birth_date = September 1972
| birth_place = [[Asturias]], [[Spain]]
| birth_place = [[Spain]]
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'''Alfonso Nieto-Castanon''' (born September 1972) is a Spanish [[Computational neuroscience|computational neuroscientist]] and developer of computational [[neuroimaging]] analysis methods and tools. He is a senior research scientist, visiting researcher at the [[Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Sargent College)|Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences]],<ref>[https://sites.google.com/bu.edu/alfnie][https://www.bu.edu/sargent/profile/alfonso-nieto-castanon/] Boston University</ref> and research affiliate at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] [[McGovern Institute for Brain Research]].<ref>[https://www.mit.edu/people/alfnie/] Massachusetts Institute of Technology</ref> His research focuses on the understanding and characterization of human brain dynamics underlying mental function.
'''Alfonso Nieto-Castanon''' (born September 1972) is a Spanish [[Computational neuroscience|computational neuroscientist]] and developer of computational [[neuroimaging]] analysis methods and tools. He is a visiting researcher at the [[Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Sargent College)|Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences]],<ref>[https://sites.google.com/bu.edu/alfnie][https://www.bu.edu/sargent/profile/alfonso-nieto-castanon/] Boston University</ref> and research affiliate at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] [[McGovern Institute for Brain Research]].<ref>[https://www.mit.edu/people/alfnie/] Massachusetts Institute of Technology</ref> His research focuses on the understanding and characterization of human brain dynamics underlying mental function.


==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Nieto-Castanon was born in Spain in 1972.<ref>[https://sites.bu.edu/guentherlab/files/2016/09/Neito-Castanon-Dissertation.pdf Dissertation VITA]</ref> He was part of the first Spanish team to participate in the [[International Physics Olympiad]] in 1990. He went to college at the [[Universidad de Valladolid]] from 1991 to 1995 and earned a B.S./M.S. in [[Telecommunications Engineering]]. In 1998 he pursued graduate studies in [[Boston University]] Cognitive and Neural Systems Department and was awarded a research training fellowship from Fundación Séneca/Cedetel, and a graduate research fellowship from Boston University. He received a Ph.D. in [[Computational Neuroscience]] in 2004.<ref>Nieto-Castanon, A. (2004). An investigation of articulatory-acoustic relationships in speech production. Boston University</ref>
Nieto-Castanon was born in Spain in 1972.<ref>[https://sites.bu.edu/guentherlab/files/2016/09/Neito-Castanon-Dissertation.pdf Dissertation VITA]</ref> He was part of the first Spanish team to participate in the [[International Physics Olympiad]] in 1990{{cn|date=June 2022}}. He went to college at the [[Universidad de Valladolid]] from 1991 to 1995 and earned a B.S./M.S. in [[Telecommunications Engineering]]. In 1998 he pursued graduate studies in [[Boston University]] Cognitive and Neural Systems Department and was awarded a research training fellowship from Fundación Séneca/Cedetel, and a graduate research fellowship from Boston University. He received a Ph.D. in [[Computational Neuroscience]] in 2004.<ref>Nieto-Castanon, A. (2004). An investigation of articulatory-acoustic relationships in speech production. Boston University</ref>


==Contributions to science==
==Contributions to science==
===ROI analyses===
In some of his early work Nieto-Castanon helped develop novel methods for region of interest (ROI) analyses of fMRI data,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nieto-Castanon |first1=Alfonso |last2=Ghosh |first2=Satrajit S. |last3=Tourville |first3=Jason A. |last4=Guenther |first4=Frank H. |date=August 2003 |title=Region of interest based analysis of functional imaging data |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12948689 |journal=NeuroImage |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=1303–1316 |doi=10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00188-5 |pmid=12948689|s2cid=7230124 }}</ref> with a focus on multivariate techniques and the use of subject-specific ROIs, where regions of interest are defined differently for each person based on common anatomical or functional landmarks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nieto-Castañón |first1=Alfonso |last2=Fedorenko |first2=Evelina |date=2012-11-15 |title=Subject-specific functional localizers increase sensitivity and functional resolution of multi-subject analyses |journal=NeuroImage |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=1646–1669 |doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.065 |pmc=3477490 |pmid=22784644}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fedorenko |first1=Evelina |last2=Hsieh |first2=Po-Jang |last3=Nieto-Castañón |first3=Alfonso |last4=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first4=Susan |last5=Kanwisher |first5=Nancy |date=August 2010 |title=New method for fMRI investigations of language: defining ROIs functionally in individual subjects |journal=Journal of Neurophysiology |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=1177–1194 |doi=10.1152/jn.00032.2010 |pmc=2934923 |pmid=20410363}}</ref> Subject-specific ROIs allowed researchers to probe the limits of the functional localization hypotheses common in neuroimaging, and better understand the spatial and functional specificity of different brain areas.
In some of his early work Nieto-Castanon helped develop novel methods for region of interest (ROI) analyses of [[Functional magnetic resonance imaging|fMRI]] data,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nieto-Castanon |first1=Alfonso |last2=Ghosh |first2=Satrajit S. |last3=Tourville |first3=Jason A. |last4=Guenther |first4=Frank H. |date=August 2003 |title=Region of interest based analysis of functional imaging data |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12948689 |journal=NeuroImage |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=1303–1316 |doi=10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00188-5 |pmid=12948689|s2cid=7230124 }}</ref> with a focus on multivariate techniques and the use of subject-specific ROIs, where regions of interest are defined differently for each person based on common anatomical or functional landmarks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nieto-Castañón |first1=Alfonso |last2=Fedorenko |first2=Evelina |date=2012-11-15 |title=Subject-specific functional localizers increase sensitivity and functional resolution of multi-subject analyses |journal=NeuroImage |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=1646–1669 |doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.065 |pmc=3477490 |pmid=22784644}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fedorenko |first1=Evelina |last2=Hsieh |first2=Po-Jang |last3=Nieto-Castañón |first3=Alfonso |last4=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first4=Susan |last5=Kanwisher |first5=Nancy |date=August 2010 |title=New method for fMRI investigations of language: defining ROIs functionally in individual subjects |journal=Journal of Neurophysiology |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=1177–1194 |doi=10.1152/jn.00032.2010 |pmc=2934923 |pmid=20410363}}</ref> Subject-specific ROIs allowed researchers to probe the limits of the functional localization hypotheses common in neuroimaging, and better understand the spatial and functional specificity of different brain areas.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.023 | doi=10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.023 | title=The early origins and the growing popularity of the individual-subject analytic approach in human neuroscience | year=2021 | last1=Fedorenko | first1=Evelina | journal=Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences | volume=40 | pages=105–112 | hdl=1721.1/138409.2 | s2cid=232265279 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>


===Brain-computer interfaces===
Nieto-Castanon also developed multiple influential mathematical and computational techniques for [[functional connectivity]] analyses,<ref>Nieto-Castanon, A. (2020). Handbook of functional connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging methods in CONN. Hilbert Press.</ref> with a special emphasis on the robust estimation of functional connectivity measures in the presence of subject-motion and physiological noise sources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chai |first1=Xiaoqian J. |last2=Castañón |first2=Alfonso Nieto |last3=Ongür |first3=Dost |last4=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first4=Susan |date=2012-01-16 |title=Anticorrelations in resting state networks without global signal regression |journal=NeuroImage |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=1420–1428 |doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.048 |pmc=3230748 |pmid=21889994}}</ref> In 2011 he developed [[CONN (functional connectivity toolbox)|CONN]] to integrate and facilitate best practices in functional connectivity studies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first1=Susan |last2=Nieto-Castanon |first2=Alfonso |date=2012 |title=Conn: a functional connectivity toolbox for correlated and anticorrelated brain networks |journal=Brain Connectivity |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=125–141 |doi=10.1089/brain.2012.0073 |pmid=22642651}}</ref> CONN included a combination of novel methods such as multivariate connectivity analyses and dynamic connectivity estimation, together with multiple well known techniques such as psycho-physiological interactions, graph analyses, or independent component analyses. His software has been since widely adopted in the field and it has become a reference in functional connectivity studies with over 900 citations in 2021 alone<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_vis=1&q=%22conn+toolbox%22+OR+%22nitrc.org/projects/conn%22+OR+%22Conn+*+functional+connectivity+toolbox%22 Google Scholar CONN references]</ref>
In collaboration with Boston University's Neural Prosthesis Laboratory, Nieto-Castanon helped build a [[Neuroprosthetic]] device for real-time speech synthesis.<ref>{{Cite patent |country=US|number=10553199|pubdate=2020-02-04|title=Low-dimensional real-time concatenative speech synthesizer|assign1=[[Trustees of Boston University]]|inventor1-last=Guenther|inventor1-first=Frank Harold|inventor2-last=Nieto-Castanon|inventor2-first=Alfonso}}</ref> This system was designed to allow patients with [[locked-in syndrome]] to produce speech by decoding signals from a [[neurotrophic electrode]] implanted in the brain.<ref name="PBS News Hour">“Brain-Powered Technology May Help Locked-In Patients” [[PBS NewsHour]], October 14, 2011, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/brain-powered-technology-may-help-locked-in-patients.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122182646/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/brain-powered-technology-may-help-locked-in-patients.html |date=2014-01-22 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Keim |first=Brandon |title=Wireless Brain-to-Computer Connection Synthesizes Speech |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2009/12/wireless-brain/ |access-date=2023-08-11 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>

===Functional connectivity===
Nieto-Castanon also developed multiple influential mathematical and computational techniques for [[functional connectivity]] analyses,<ref>Nieto-Castanon, A. (2020). Handbook of functional connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging methods in CONN. Hilbert Press.</ref> with a special emphasis on the robust estimation of functional connectivity measures in the presence of subject-motion and physiological noise sources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chai |first1=Xiaoqian J. |last2=Castañón |first2=Alfonso Nieto |last3=Ongür |first3=Dost |last4=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first4=Susan |date=2012-01-16 |title=Anticorrelations in resting state networks without global signal regression |journal=NeuroImage |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=1420–1428 |doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.048 |pmc=3230748 |pmid=21889994}}</ref> In 2011 he developed [[CONN (functional connectivity toolbox)|CONN]] to integrate and facilitate best practices in functional connectivity studies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first1=Susan |last2=Nieto-Castanon |first2=Alfonso |date=2012 |title=Conn: a functional connectivity toolbox for correlated and anticorrelated brain networks |journal=Brain Connectivity |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=125–141 |doi=10.1089/brain.2012.0073 |pmid=22642651}}</ref> CONN included a combination of novel methods such as multivariate connectivity analyses and dynamic connectivity estimation, together with multiple well known techniques such as psycho-physiological interactions, graph analyses, or independent component analyses. His software has been since widely adopted in the field<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1073/pnas.1715766115 | title=Heterogeneity within the frontoparietal control network and its relationship to the default and dorsal attention networks | year=2018 | last1=Dixon | first1=Matthew L. | last2=de la Vega | first2=Alejandro | last3=Mills | first3=Caitlin | last4=Andrews-Hanna | first4=Jessica | last5=Spreng | first5=R. Nathan | last6=Cole | first6=Michael W. | last7=Christoff | first7=Kalina | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume=115 | issue=7 | pages=E1598–E1607 | pmid=29382744 | pmc=5816169 | bibcode=2018PNAS..115E1598D | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2135-15.2015 | doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2135-15.2015 | title=Default Mode Dynamics for Global Functional Integration | year=2015 | last1=Vatansever | first1=D. | last2=Menon | first2=D. K. | last3=Manktelow | first3=A. E. | last4=Sahakian | first4=B. J. | last5=Stamatakis | first5=E. A. | journal=Journal of Neuroscience | volume=35 | issue=46 | pages=15254–15262 | pmid=26586814 | pmc=4649001 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awv228 | doi=10.1093/brain/awv228 | title=Network localization of neurological symptoms from focal brain lesions | year=2015 | last1=Boes | first1=Aaron D. | last2=Prasad | first2=Sashank | last3=Liu | first3=Hesheng | last4=Liu | first4=Qi | last5=Pascual-Leone | first5=Alvaro | last6=Caviness | first6=Verne S. | last7=Fox | first7=Michael D. | journal=Brain | volume=138 | issue=10 | pages=3061–3075 | pmid=26264514 | pmc=4671478 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1093/brain/awv169 | title=Intrinsic functional connectivity differentiates minimally conscious from unresponsive patients | year=2015 | last1=Demertzi | first1=Athena | last2=Antonopoulos | first2=Georgios | last3=Heine | first3=Lizette | last4=Voss | first4=Henning U. | last5=Crone | first5=Julia Sophia | last6=De Los Angeles | first6=Carlo | last7=Bahri | first7=Mohamed Ali | last8=Di Perri | first8=Carol | last9=Vanhaudenhuyse | first9=Audrey | last10=Charland-Verville | first10=Vanessa | last11=Kronbichler | first11=Martin | last12=Trinka | first12=Eugen | last13=Phillips | first13=Christophe | last14=Gomez | first14=Francisco | last15=Tshibanda | first15=Luaba | last16=Soddu | first16=Andrea | last17=Schiff | first17=Nicholas D. | last18=Whitfield-Gabrieli | first18=Susan | last19=Laureys | first19=Steven | journal=Brain | volume=138 | issue=9 | pages=2619–2631 | pmid=26117367 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2014.53 | doi=10.1038/npp.2014.53 | title=Modulation of Resting-State Amygdala-Frontal Functional Connectivity by Oxytocin in Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder | year=2014 | last1=Dodhia | first1=Sonam | last2=Hosanagar | first2=Avinash | last3=Fitzgerald | first3=Daniel A. | last4=Labuschagne | first4=Izelle | last5=Wood | first5=Amanda G. | last6=Nathan | first6=Pradeep J. | last7=Phan | first7=K Luan | journal=Neuropsychopharmacology | volume=39 | issue=9 | pages=2061–2069 | pmid=24594871 | pmc=4104324 }}</ref> and it is now regularly used in functional connectivity studies, with over 900 citations during 2021 alone<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_vis=1&q=%22conn+toolbox%22+OR+%22nitrc.org/projects/conn%22+OR+%22Conn+*+functional+connectivity+toolbox%22 Google Scholar CONN references]</ref>


Nieto-Castanon has given numerous courses and lectures worldwide<ref>[https://education.martinos.org/home/using-the-conn-toolbox-for-functional-connectivity-analysis/ Harvard/MGH courses]</ref><ref>[https://neurometrika.org/BCM_MIT Neurometrika courses]</ref><ref>[https://education.martinos.org/home/connectivity-course/ Harvard/MGH courses]</ref><ref>[http://www.martinos.org/CONN_in_Cincinnati University of Cincinnati & CHMC]</ref><ref>[https://www.bcbl.eu/en/noticias/eventos-pasados/alfonso-nieto-castanon-analysis-methods-challenges-resting-state-functional BCBL]</ref> and his work has been cited in over 8000 refereed journal articles to date.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PcD1M7kAAAAJ Google Scholar Nieto-Castanon profile]</ref>
Nieto-Castanon has given numerous courses and lectures worldwide<ref>[https://education.martinos.org/home/using-the-conn-toolbox-for-functional-connectivity-analysis/ Harvard/MGH courses]</ref><ref>[https://neurometrika.org/BCM_MIT Neurometrika courses]</ref><ref>[https://education.martinos.org/home/connectivity-course/ Harvard/MGH courses]</ref><ref>[http://www.martinos.org/CONN_in_Cincinnati University of Cincinnati & CHMC]</ref><ref>[https://www.bcbl.eu/en/noticias/eventos-pasados/alfonso-nieto-castanon-analysis-methods-challenges-resting-state-functional BCBL]</ref> and his work has been cited in over 8000 refereed journal articles to date.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PcD1M7kAAAAJ Google Scholar Nieto-Castanon profile]</ref>


== International competitions ==
==International competitions==
⚫
Beyond his research, Nieto-Castanon is also recognized for his participation in international programming and data-analysis competitions. Programming in [[Matlab]], Nieto-Castanon won in 2009 and in 2011 the ''Color Bridge'' and ''Vines'' [[MathWorks]] collaborative-programming competitions.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140111125250/https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/contest/hall_of_fame Matlab contest Hall of Fame]</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Saez|first= Juan Manuel|title=Alfonso Nieto Castanon gana por segunda vez este concurso de programacion online de MathWorks|url=https://www.developersti.es/noticias-developer/1alfonso-nieto-castanon-gana-por-segunda-vez-este-concurso-de-programacion-online-de-mathworks456|newspaper=Developers TI|date=}}</ref> He was also the winner in 2011 of the [[Microsoft]] Kinect video gesture identification competition,<ref>{{cite news|last=Byrne|first=Ciara|title=Kaggle launches competition to help Microsoft Kinect learn new gestures|url=https://venturebeat.com/2011/12/12/kaggle-competition-microsoft-kinect-learn-new-gestures/|access-date=13 December 2011|newspaper=VentureBeat|date=December 12, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.kaggle.com/c/GestureChallenge/leaderboard Kaggle Microsoft Kinect competition]</ref> obtained second place at the Marinexplore and Cornell University ''Whale Detection'' audio classification challenge,<ref>{{cite news|last=Marlow|first=Jeffrey|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/02/wanted-right-whale-caller-id/|title=Wanted: Right Whale Caller ID|date=February 12, 2013|newspaper=Wired}}</ref> took first prize in 2013 [[Genentech]]'s ''Flu Forecasting'' predictive model competition,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blog.kaggle.com/2014/03/24/kaggle-newsletter-join-the-team|title=Join the team|newspaper=Kaggle newsletter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423022802/http://blog.kaggle.com/2014/03/24/kaggle-newsletter-join-the-team|archive-date=2016-04-23}}</ref> and placed second in MathWorks 2014 bin packing optimization competition.<ref>{{cite news|title=Packing Santa's Sleigh|url=http://blogs.mathworks.com/pick/2014/03/21/packing-santas-sleigh|date=March 21, 2014|newspaper=MathWorks Blogs}}</ref> In 2013 Nieto-Castanon was ranked as the third best data-scientist in [[Kaggle]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/google-buys-kaggle-and-its-gaggle-of-ai-geeks/|title=Google buys Kaggle and its gaggle of AI geeks|date=2017-03-08|work=CNET|access-date=2018-06-01|language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.kaggle.com/alfnie Kaggle Nieto-Castanon profile]</ref> and he has been ranked as the best [[Matlab]] programmer in MathWorks Cody games for seven consecutive years between 2013 and 2019.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gulley|first=Ned|title=Cody interview:Alfonso Nieto-Castanon|url=http://blogs.mathworks.com/community/2014/01/29/the-cody-interview-alfonso-nieto-castanon|date=January 29, 2014|newspaper=MathWorks Blogs}}</ref>


⚫
==References==
⚫
Beyond his research, Nieto-Castanon is also recognized for his numerous prizes in international programming and data-analysis competitions. Programming in [[Matlab]], Nieto-Castanon won in 2009 and again in 2011 the ''Color Bridge'' and ''Vines'' [[MathWorks]] collaborative-programming competitions.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140111125250/https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/contest/hall_of_fame Matlab contest Hall of Fame]</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Saez|first= Juan Manuel|title=Alfonso Nieto Castanon gana por segunda vez este concurso de programacion online de MathWorks|url=https://www.developersti.es/noticias-developer/1alfonso-nieto-castanon-gana-por-segunda-vez-este-concurso-de-programacion-online-de-mathworks456|newspaper=Developers TI|date=}}</ref> He was also the winner in 2011 of the [[Microsoft]] Kinect video gesture identification competition,<ref>{{cite news|last=Byrne|first=Ciara|title=Kaggle launches competition to help Microsoft Kinect learn new gestures|url=https://venturebeat.com/2011/12/12/kaggle-competition-microsoft-kinect-learn-new-gestures/|access-date=13 December 2011|newspaper=VentureBeat|date=December 12, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.kaggle.com/c/GestureChallenge/leaderboard Kaggle Microsoft Kinect competition]</ref> obtained second place at the Marinexplore and Cornell University ''Whale Detection'' audio classification challenge,<ref>{{cite news|last=Marlow|first=Jeffrey|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/02/wanted-right-whale-caller-id/|title=Wanted: Right Whale Caller ID|date=February 12, 2013|newspaper=Wired}}</ref> took first prize in 2013 [[Genentech]]'s ''Flu Forecasting'' predictive model competition,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blog.kaggle.com/2014/03/24/kaggle-newsletter-join-the-team|title=Join the team|newspaper=Kaggle newsletter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423022802/http://blog.kaggle.com/2014/03/24/kaggle-newsletter-join-the-team|archive-date=2016-04-23}}</ref> and placed second in MathWorks 2014 bin packing optimization competition.<ref>{{cite news|title=Packing Santa's Sleigh|url=http://blogs.mathworks.com/pick/2014/03/21/packing-santas-sleigh|date=March 21, 2014|newspaper=MathWorks Blogs}}</ref> In 2013 Nieto-Castanon was ranked as the third best data-scientist in [[Kaggle]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/google-buys-kaggle-and-its-gaggle-of-ai-geeks/|title=Google buys Kaggle and its gaggle of AI geeks|date=2017-03-08|work=CNET|access-date=2018-06-01|language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.kaggle.com/alfnie Kaggle Nieto-Castanon profile]</ref> and he has been ranked as the best [[Matlab]] programmer in MathWorks Cody games for seven consecutive years between 2013 and 2019.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gulley|first=Ned|title=Cody interview:Alfonso Nieto-Castanon|url=http://blogs.mathworks.com/community/2014/01/29/the-cody-interview-alfonso-nieto-castanon|date=January 29, 2014|newspaper=MathWorks Blogs}}</ref>

⚫
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official|https://alfnie.com/}}
* {{google scholar id|PcD1M7kAAAAJ&}}


{{authority control}}
{{authority control}}

Latest revision as of 19:21, 25 April 2024

Alfonso Nieto-Castanon
Alfonso Nieto-Castanon in 2016
BornSeptember 1972
Spain
Alma materUniversidad de Valladolid, Boston University
Known forfunctional neuroimaging, subject-specific ROIs, connectome, CONN
Scientific career
FieldsComputational neuroscience, Neuroimaging
InstitutionsBoston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisorFrank H. Guenther

Alfonso Nieto-Castanon (born September 1972) is a Spanish computational neuroscientist and developer of computational neuroimaging analysis methods and tools. He is a visiting researcher at the Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences,[1] and research affiliate at MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research.[2] His research focuses on the understanding and characterization of human brain dynamics underlying mental function.

Early life and education

[edit]

Nieto-Castanon was born in Spain in 1972.[3] He was part of the first Spanish team to participate in the International Physics Olympiad in 1990[citation needed]. He went to college at the Universidad de Valladolid from 1991 to 1995 and earned a B.S./M.S. in Telecommunications Engineering. In 1998 he pursued graduate studies in Boston University Cognitive and Neural Systems Department and was awarded a research training fellowship from Fundación Séneca/Cedetel, and a graduate research fellowship from Boston University. He received a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience in 2004.[4]

Contributions to science

[edit]

ROI analyses

[edit]

In some of his early work Nieto-Castanon helped develop novel methods for region of interest (ROI) analyses of fMRI data,[5] with a focus on multivariate techniques and the use of subject-specific ROIs, where regions of interest are defined differently for each person based on common anatomical or functional landmarks.[6][7] Subject-specific ROIs allowed researchers to probe the limits of the functional localization hypotheses common in neuroimaging, and better understand the spatial and functional specificity of different brain areas.[8]

Brain-computer interfaces

[edit]

In collaboration with Boston University's Neural Prosthesis Laboratory, Nieto-Castanon helped build a Neuroprosthetic device for real-time speech synthesis.[9] This system was designed to allow patients with locked-in syndrome to produce speech by decoding signals from a neurotrophic electrode implanted in the brain.[10][11]

Functional connectivity

[edit]

Nieto-Castanon also developed multiple influential mathematical and computational techniques for functional connectivity analyses,[12] with a special emphasis on the robust estimation of functional connectivity measures in the presence of subject-motion and physiological noise sources.[13] In 2011 he developed CONN to integrate and facilitate best practices in functional connectivity studies.[14] CONN included a combination of novel methods such as multivariate connectivity analyses and dynamic connectivity estimation, together with multiple well known techniques such as psycho-physiological interactions, graph analyses, or independent component analyses. His software has been since widely adopted in the field[15][16][17][18][19] and it is now regularly used in functional connectivity studies, with over 900 citations during 2021 alone[20]

Nieto-Castanon has given numerous courses and lectures worldwide[21][22][23][24][25] and his work has been cited in over 8000 refereed journal articles to date.[26]

International competitions

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Beyond his research, Nieto-Castanon is also recognized for his participation in international programming and data-analysis competitions. Programming in Matlab, Nieto-Castanon won in 2009 and in 2011 the Color Bridge and Vines MathWorks collaborative-programming competitions.[27][28] He was also the winner in 2011 of the Microsoft Kinect video gesture identification competition,[29][30] obtained second place at the Marinexplore and Cornell University Whale Detection audio classification challenge,[31] took first prize in 2013 Genentech's Flu Forecasting predictive model competition,[32] and placed second in MathWorks 2014 bin packing optimization competition.[33] In 2013 Nieto-Castanon was ranked as the third best data-scientist in Kaggle,[34][35] and he has been ranked as the best Matlab programmer in MathWorks Cody games for seven consecutive years between 2013 and 2019.[36]

References

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  1. ^ [1][2] Boston University
  2. ^ [3] Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  3. ^ Dissertation VITA
  4. ^ Nieto-Castanon, A. (2004). An investigation of articulatory-acoustic relationships in speech production. Boston University
  5. ^ Nieto-Castanon, Alfonso; Ghosh, Satrajit S.; Tourville, Jason A.; Guenther, Frank H. (August 2003). "Region of interest based analysis of functional imaging data". NeuroImage. 19 (4): 1303–1316. doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00188-5. PMID 12948689. S2CID 7230124.
  6. ^ Nieto-Castañón, Alfonso; Fedorenko, Evelina (2012-11-15). "Subject-specific functional localizers increase sensitivity and functional resolution of multi-subject analyses". NeuroImage. 63 (3): 1646–1669. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.065. PMC 3477490. PMID 22784644.
  7. ^ Fedorenko, Evelina; Hsieh, Po-Jang; Nieto-Castañón, Alfonso; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Kanwisher, Nancy (August 2010). "New method for fMRI investigations of language: defining ROIs functionally in individual subjects". Journal of Neurophysiology. 104 (2): 1177–1194. doi:10.1152/jn.00032.2010. PMC 2934923. PMID 20410363.
  8. ^ Fedorenko, Evelina (2021). "The early origins and the growing popularity of the individual-subject analytic approach in human neuroscience". Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 40: 105–112. doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.023. hdl:1721.1/138409.2. S2CID 232265279.
  9. ^ US 10553199, Guenther, Frank Harold & Nieto-Castanon, Alfonso, "Low-dimensional real-time concatenative speech synthesizer", published 2020-02-04, assigned to Trustees of Boston University 
  10. ^ “Brain-Powered Technology May Help Locked-In Patients” PBS NewsHour, October 14, 2011, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/brain-powered-technology-may-help-locked-in-patients.html Archived 2014-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Keim, Brandon. "Wireless Brain-to-Computer Connection Synthesizes Speech". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  12. ^ Nieto-Castanon, A. (2020). Handbook of functional connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging methods in CONN. Hilbert Press.
  13. ^ Chai, Xiaoqian J.; Castañón, Alfonso Nieto; Ongür, Dost; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan (2012-01-16). "Anticorrelations in resting state networks without global signal regression". NeuroImage. 59 (2): 1420–1428. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.048. PMC 3230748. PMID 21889994.
  14. ^ Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Nieto-Castanon, Alfonso (2012). "Conn: a functional connectivity toolbox for correlated and anticorrelated brain networks". Brain Connectivity. 2 (3): 125–141. doi:10.1089/brain.2012.0073. PMID 22642651.
  15. ^ Dixon, Matthew L.; de la Vega, Alejandro; Mills, Caitlin; Andrews-Hanna, Jessica; Spreng, R. Nathan; Cole, Michael W.; Christoff, Kalina (2018). "Heterogeneity within the frontoparietal control network and its relationship to the default and dorsal attention networks". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (7): E1598–E1607. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115E1598D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1715766115. PMC 5816169. PMID 29382744.
  16. ^ Vatansever, D.; Menon, D. K.; Manktelow, A. E.; Sahakian, B. J.; Stamatakis, E. A. (2015). "Default Mode Dynamics for Global Functional Integration". Journal of Neuroscience. 35 (46): 15254–15262. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2135-15.2015. PMC 4649001. PMID 26586814.
  17. ^ Boes, Aaron D.; Prasad, Sashank; Liu, Hesheng; Liu, Qi; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Caviness, Verne S.; Fox, Michael D. (2015). "Network localization of neurological symptoms from focal brain lesions". Brain. 138 (10): 3061–3075. doi:10.1093/brain/awv228. PMC 4671478. PMID 26264514.
  18. ^ Demertzi, Athena; Antonopoulos, Georgios; Heine, Lizette; Voss, Henning U.; Crone, Julia Sophia; De Los Angeles, Carlo; Bahri, Mohamed Ali; Di Perri, Carol; Vanhaudenhuyse, Audrey; Charland-Verville, Vanessa; Kronbichler, Martin; Trinka, Eugen; Phillips, Christophe; Gomez, Francisco; Tshibanda, Luaba; Soddu, Andrea; Schiff, Nicholas D.; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Laureys, Steven (2015). "Intrinsic functional connectivity differentiates minimally conscious from unresponsive patients". Brain. 138 (9): 2619–2631. doi:10.1093/brain/awv169. PMID 26117367.
  19. ^ Dodhia, Sonam; Hosanagar, Avinash; Fitzgerald, Daniel A.; Labuschagne, Izelle; Wood, Amanda G.; Nathan, Pradeep J.; Phan, K Luan (2014). "Modulation of Resting-State Amygdala-Frontal Functional Connectivity by Oxytocin in Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder". Neuropsychopharmacology. 39 (9): 2061–2069. doi:10.1038/npp.2014.53. PMC 4104324. PMID 24594871.
  20. ^ Google Scholar CONN references
  21. ^ Harvard/MGH courses
  22. ^ Neurometrika courses
  23. ^ Harvard/MGH courses
  24. ^ University of Cincinnati & CHMC
  25. ^ BCBL
  26. ^ Google Scholar Nieto-Castanon profile
  27. ^ Matlab contest Hall of Fame
  28. ^ Saez, Juan Manuel. "Alfonso Nieto Castanon gana por segunda vez este concurso de programacion online de MathWorks". Developers TI.
  29. ^ Byrne, Ciara (December 12, 2011). "Kaggle launches competition to help Microsoft Kinect learn new gestures". VentureBeat. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  30. ^ Kaggle Microsoft Kinect competition
  31. ^ Marlow, Jeffrey (February 12, 2013). "Wanted: Right Whale Caller ID". Wired.
  32. ^ "Join the team". Kaggle newsletter. Archived from the original on 2016-04-23.
  33. ^ "Packing Santa's Sleigh". MathWorks Blogs. March 21, 2014.
  34. ^ "Google buys Kaggle and its gaggle of AI geeks". CNET. 2017-03-08. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  35. ^ Kaggle Nieto-Castanon profile
  36. ^ Gulley, Ned (January 29, 2014). "Cody interview:Alfonso Nieto-Castanon". MathWorks Blogs.
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