Neuroscience and AI (NAI) Team

Overview

Neuroscience and AI (NAI) team is dedicated to advancing medical science through innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration, focusing on practical applications that benefit the healthcare community. We integrate diverse fields such as neuroscience, psychology, engineering, and computer science. By fostering a collaborative environment, we encourage the exchange of ideas and expertise to drive impactful research.

Our Objectives

Develop cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic tools to address pressing health challenges.
Enhance the understanding of complex physiological and neurological processes.
Translate scientific discoveries into tools that will improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

Primary Research Areas

Physiological Signals and Speech Processing for Medical Diagnosis
- Developing digital speech biomarkers for early detection and monitoring of neurological and mental disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Schizophrenia, and Depression.
Affective Intelligence and Computing
- Exploring the role of emotion in artificial intelligence to improve human-computer interaction, contributing to the development of empathetic and responsive healthcare technologies.
Biomedical Signal Processing and Artificial Intelligence
- Automated predictive analysis of data and signals such as EEG, ECG, speech, movement, and brain-gut axis, to provide insights into neurological, psychiatric, and gastrointestinal health, such as Alzheimer’s disease, anaesthesia, epilepsy, and sleep disorders, to inform treatment strategies, specifically personalised treatment plans.
Neuroscience Research
- Neural recordings in animals to study memory, learning, and neural dynamics, advancing the understanding of cognitive processes and potential therapeutic targets.
Electrophysiology and Lucid Dreaming
- Studying electrophysiological processes in humans and animals to contribute to the understanding of sleep disorders and cognitive health.
Predictive Algorithms in Medicine and Psychology
- Developing computational models to predict outcomes in medical and psychological contexts, enhancing decision-making and treatment efficacy in clinical settings.
Neurophysiology and Computational Modelling
- Exploring neurophysiological processes to develop computational models of neuronal networks, providing a foundation for understanding complex neural interactions and their implications for health.
Psychiatry and Neurological Disorders
- Addressing schizophrenia, dementia, and epileptic seizures to improve diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for mental health conditions.
Neurocriminology
- Investigating the neural underpinnings of criminal behaviour to inform legal and psychological practices, contributing to societal wellbeing.
Biometrics and Behaviour Recognition
- Creating advanced techniques for analysing human behaviour through biometric data to support personalised healthcare and behavioural interventions.
Ageing and Pharmacotherapy
- Examining the effects of ageing and pharmacological interventions on cognitive and physiological health to support developing strategies that improve health span and quality of life in ageing populations.

Coordinator

Vered Aharonson, MSc, PhD
- Professor of Medical Physics

Members

Michael Davidson PhD
- Professor of Psychiatry
Avgis Hadjipapas MSc, MD
- Professor in Neuroscience and Research Methods
Aleksandar Jovanovic PhD, MD
- Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Nicoletta Nicolaou PhD
- Associate Professor in Cybernetics and Control Engineering
Achilleas Pavlou MSc, PhD
- Lecturer in Psychology and Clinical Communication Skills
Nikolas Perentos PhD
- Assistant Professor Neuroscience

Selected Publications

Aharonson, V., Lazebnik, T., Sinai, A., Nassar, M., Senderova, I., Constantinescu, M., Tov, L.L. and Schlesinger, I., 2025. Novel Objective Tool to Assess Tremor Reveals Unilateral Focused Ultrasound Improves Tremor Bilaterally. Neurology and Therapy, pp.1-10; https://doi.org/10.1007/s40120-024-00705-7
Modamed, A.K., and Aharonson, V (2025) Single-trial EEG Discrimination of Real Regulated Isometric Wrist Extension and Wrist Flexion, Biomimetics 9(12), 761; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9120761
Vered Aharonson, Craig S. Carlson, Michiel Postema, Hanna Putter-Katz, Simona Tetin Schneider (2024) Influence of wearing a face mask on speech properties, Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering, 10(4): 13-16 https://doi.org/10.1515/cdbme-2024-2004
Wright, H., Postema, M., and Aharonson, V. Towards a voice-based severity scale for Parkinson’s disease monitoring, Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering, 10(4) 686-689 https://doi.org/10.1515/cdbme-2024-2168
Mohamed, A.K., Aswat, M. and Aharonson, V., (2024) Low-Cost Dynamometer for Measuring and Regulating Wrist Extension and Flexion Motor Tasks in Electroencephalography Experiments. Sensors, 24(17), 58-71.
Aharonson, V., Lazebnik, T., Sinai, A., Nassar, M., Senderova, I., Constantinescu, M., Tov, L.L. and Schlesinger, I., 2025. Novel Objective Tool to Assess Tremor Reveals Unilateral Focused Ultrasound Improves Tremor Bilaterally. Neurology and Therapy, pp.1-10; https://doi.org/10.1007/s40120-024-00705-7
Modamed, A.K., and Aharonson, V (2025) Single-trial EEG Discrimination of Real Regulated Isometric Wrist Extension and Wrist Flexion, Biomimetics 9(12), 761; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9120761
Vered Aharonson, Craig S. Carlson, Michiel Postema, Hanna Putter-Katz, Simona Tetin Schneider (2024)
Influence of wearing a face mask on speech properties, Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering, 10(4): 13-16 https://doi.org/10.1515/cdbme-2024-2004
Wright, H., Postema, M., and Aharonson, V. Towards a voice-based severity scale for Parkinson’s disease monitoring, Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering, 10(4) 686-689
https://doi.org/10.1515/cdbme-2024-2168
Mohamed, A.K., Aswat, M. and Aharonson, V., (2024) Low-Cost Dynamometer for Measuring and Regulating Wrist Extension and Flexion Motor Tasks in Electroencephalography Experiments.
Sensors, 24(17), 58-71.
Kovac, D., Mekyska, J., Aharonson, V., Harar, P., Galaz, Z., Rapcsak, S., Orozco-Arroyave, J.R., Brabenec, L. and Rektorova, I., (2024) Exploring Digital Speech Biomarkers of Hypokinetic Dysarthria in a Multilingual Cohort. Biomedical signal processing and control 88 (2) 105667. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bspc.2023.105667
Aharonson, V., Postema, M., Gebbie, R., Van Der Merwe, J. and Schlesinger, I. (2023) Sobel edge detection for quantifying the effectiveness of focused ultrasound thalamotomy for tremor relief. Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering 9(1) 17-20. https://doi.org/10.1515/cdbme-2023-1005
Gritzman, A. Rubin, D. Postema, M. and Aharonson, V. (2021) “Shape-based Adaptive Thresholding for Lip Segmentation using Support Vector Regression” Signal Image and Video Processing, 15(6), pp.1197-1202.
Pinkas, G. Karny, Y. Malachi, A. Barkai, G. Bachar, G. and Aharonson, V. (2020) “SARS-CoV-2 Detection from Voice,” IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, (1) 268-274.
Aharonson, V. Seedat, N. Israeli-Korn, S. Hassin-Baer, S. Postema, M. Yahalom, G. (2020) “Automated stage discrimination of Parkinson’s disease”, Journal of Bio-Integration. Vol 1 (2) p. 1-9.
Ugarte, M.P., Achilleos, S., Quattrocchi, A. et al. Premature mortality attributable to COVID-19: potential years of life lost in 17 countries around the world, January–August 2020. BMC Public Health 22, 54 (2022).
Abdalbari H, Durrani M, Pancholi S, Patel N, Nasuto SJ and Nicolaou N. Brain and brain-heart Granger causality during wakefulness and sleep. Front. Neurosci. 16:927111 (2022).
Loizou S, Nicolaou N, Pincus BA et al. Concept maps as a novel assessment tool in medical education [version 3; peer review: 2 approved]. MedEdPublish 12:21 (2022)
Adama, S-J. Wu, N. Nicolaou, M. Bogdan, ‘Extendable Hybrid Approach to Detect Conscious States in a CLIS Patient Using Machine Learning’, Simulation Notes Europe, 32(1):37-45 (2022).
Kordi, N. Nicolaou, ‘Effect of sevoflurane on cardiovascular activity at maintenance and emergence from anesthesia during surgery’, (oral presentation), 2022 IEEE Workshop on Complexity in Engineering (COMPENG 2022), Florence, Italy, 18-20 July, 2022, pp.67-8.
N Perentos, AQ Martins, TC Watson, U Bartsch, NL Mitchell, DN Palmer, Translational neurophysiology in sheep: measuring sleep and neurological dysfunction in CLN5 Batten disease affected sheep, Brain 138 (4), 862-874 53 2015
N Perentos, RJ Croft, RJ McKenzie, D Cvetkovic, I Cosic, Comparison of the effects of continuous and pulsed mobile phone like RF exposure on the human EEG, Australasian Physics & Engineering Sciences in Medicine 30, 274-280 53 2007
N Perentos, RJ Croft, RJ McKenzie, I Cosic, The alpha band of the resting electroencephalogram under pulsed and continuous radio frequency exposures, IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering 60 (6), 1702-1710 42 2013
N Perentos, AQ Martins, RJM Cumming, NL Mitchell, DN Palmer, An EEG investigation of sleep homeostasis in healthy and CLN5 batten disease affected sheep, Journal of Neuroscience 36 (31), 8238-8249 34 2016
N Perentos, S Iskra, A Faraone, RJ McKenzie, G Bit-Babik, V Anderson, Exposure compliance methodologies for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) enabled networks and terminals, IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation 60 (2), 644-653 34 2011.
N Perentos, AU Nicol, AQ Martins, JE Stewart, P Taylor, AJ Morton, Techniques for chronic monitoring of brain activity in freely moving sheep using wireless EEG recording, Journal of Neuroscience Methods 279, 87-100
Nastić K, Pecikoza U, Labudović-Borović M, Kotur-Stevuljević J, Micov A, Jovanović A, Tomić M, Stepanović-Petrović R. 2023. The antidepressant drugs vortioxetine and duloxetine differentially and sex-dependently affect animal well-being, cognitive performance, cardiac redox status and histology in a model of osteoarthritis. Biomed. Pharmacother. 166:
Mahdi H, Jovanovic A. 2022. SUR2A as a base for cardioprotective therapeutic strategies. Mol. Biol. Rep., 49: 6717-6723.
Ionescu C, Jovanovic A. 2021. Rates, variability and associated factors in polypharmacy in nursing homes in Cyprus. Aging Med. Healthc 12: 125-130.
Sudhir R, Du Q, Sukhodub A, Jovanovic S, Jovanovic A. 2020. Improved adaptation to physical stress in mice overexpressing SUR2A is associated with changes in pattern of Q-T interval. Pflugers Arch.(Eur. J. Physiol.) 472: 683-691.
Mohammed Abdul KS, Rayadurgam J, Faiz N, Jovanovic A, Tan W. 2020. Cardioprotection by isosteviol derivate JC105: A unique drug property to activate ERK1/2 only when cells are exposed to hypoxia-reoxygenation. J. Cell. Mol Med., 24: 10924-10934.
Mota-Rolim, S. A., Pavlou, A., Nascimento, G. C., Fontenele-Araujo, J., & Ribeiro, S. (2019). Portable devices to induce lucid dreams—are they reliable?. Frontiers in neuroscience, 13, 459918.
Tanos, V., Lee, S. Y. C., Alexander, K. G., Achilleas, P., Balanos, I., & Sandhu, A. (2023). Laparoscopic myomectomy complications: META analysis on RCTs and review of large cohort studies. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology.
Loizou, S., Pavlou, A., Cory, O. A., & Ireland, D. T. (2024). Introduction of PBL in the First Year of Traditional Medical Curriculum. Health Professions Education, 10(1), 12.
Hadjipapas A, Charalambous CC, Roberts MJ. Editorial: Why the exact frequencies in our brains matter: Perspectives from electrophysiology and brain stimulation. Front Syst Neurosci. 2023 Jan 4;16:1121438. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2022.1121438.
Lowet E., Roberts M., De Weerd P. Hadjipapas A. Tuning neural synchronization: The role of variable oscillation frequencies in neural circuits. Front Syst Neurosci. 2022 Jul 8;16:908665. doi:10.3389/fnsys.2022.908665. eCollection 2022.
Zachariou M, Roberts MJ, Lowet E, De Weerd P, Hadjipapas A. Empirically constrained network models for contrast-dependent modulation of gamma rhythm in V1. Neuroimage. 2021 Apr 1;229:117748. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117748.
Mitsis GD, Anastasiadou MN, Christodoulakis M, Papathanasiou ES, Papacostas SS, Hadjipapas A. Functional brain networks of patients with epilepsy exhibit pronounced multiscale periodicities, which correlate with seizure onset. Hum Brain Mapp. 2020;41(8):2059‐2076. doi:10.1002/hbm.24930
Hadjipapas A, Lowet E, Roberts MJ, Peter A, De Weerd P. Parametric variation of gamma
frequency and power with luminance contrast: A comparative study of human MEG and monkey LFP and spike responses. Neuroimage. 2015 May 15;112:327-40.
Davidson M Cognitive impairment as a diagnostic criterion and treatment target in schizophrenia Word Psychiatry 2019 Jun;18(2):171- 172
Davidson M . Gabos C. Do DSM classifications help or hinder drug development Dialogues in Clinical Neurosciences 2020
Davidson M. The debate regarding maintenance treatment with antipsychotics drugs in schizophrenia. Dialogues in Clinical Neurosciences 215-222; 2018
Davidson M., Efficacy and Safety of MIN-101: A New Drug for the Treatment Of Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia A 12-Week Randomized, Double Blind, PlaceboControlled Trial American Journal of Psychiatry Dec 1;174(12):1195-1202; 2017

Collaborations

The NAI team collaborates with a prolific national and international network, including the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, and Stichting VU in the Netherlands, Halmstad University and Halland Medical Center, Sweden, Tampere University and Hospital & Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Finland, Magdeburg University, Germany, Rey Juan Carlos University, Spain, Montpellier University, France, Belgrade University, Serbia, University of Essex & Dundee University in the UK, National University of Ireland Galway, Tel Aviv University and Sheba, Rambam, and Rabin medical centres in Israel, and Northeastern University, Boston Medical School, Boston, USA.

Facilities and Resources
The team utilises facilities within UNIC and its collaborating institutes, from cell culture facilities and equipment to electrophysiology and imaging facilities, as well as access to patients at the University Medical Centre and adjunct hospitals and collaborators.

Centre of Neuroscience and Integrative Brain Research (CENIBRE)

The aim of CENIBRE is to investigate the nervous system in health and disease, and develop novel preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to improve neurological and mental health. An interdisciplinary approach, a unique mix of expertise, the application of state-of-the-art technologies and innovative data analysis will be the main attributes of the Centre.

The Centre builds on the integration of broad but complementary expertise of its founding members ranging from fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal signaling all the way to behavioural and wider determinants of population health and wellbeing.

Selected Research Projects

Be The Change: Innovative Higher Education for Environmental Sustainability

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Multimodal control of chronic pain and comorbidities with atypical analgesics—”two birds with one stone”

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