Sahana Nagabhushan, PhD

• Leads neurotechnology design development efforts, integrating hardware, software, data science, and regulatory requirements to advance EEG and BCI-based solutions. • Designs and implements clinical research strategies for neurophysiological signal acquisition and EEG-based classification of diagnostic status, fatigue, cognitive workload, and other key neurophysiological markers. • Fosters scientific dissemination by leading peer-reviewed publications and presenting findings at conferences. • Drives proposal writing efforts for SBIR grants through the Department of Defense (DoD), Defense Health Agency (DHA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH), securing funding to advance neurotechnology research and commercialization. • Manages R&D teams, ensuring alignment with strategic business and scientific goals. • Collaborates with cross-functional teams, including engineers, data scientists, regulatory experts, and clinicians, to ensure seamless integration of neurotechnology innovations. • Oversees project management, ensuring deliverables and milestones are executed on time and within scope while mitigating risks and aligning with strategic objectives.

Gained as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles • Conceptualized and proposed the longitudinal observational Study of Autism Risk in Siblings (StARS) aimed at characterizing the neurophysiological mechanisms that regulate differences in temporal dynamics of brain networks underlying autism spectrum disorders and their early developmental trajectories. • Engaged in high-level scientific communication with healthcare providers on the present therapeutic landscape and used insights to inform research directions. • Developed and submitted 4 high quality scientific grants as the principal investigator resulting in $503,000 in funding. • Served as a peer reviewer on 8 primary research articles for journals such as Brain Topography, Neuroimage, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience and served as a Review Editor for Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Gained as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles • Applied technical and subject matter expertise to develop novel methods for identifying signal within noisy EEG data as evidenced by the development of two key software programs OMAR and MICROSTATELAB which provide a curated, standardized and validated open access, software pipeline for the artifact detection and identification, visualization, quantification of EEG microstates respectively. • Utilized SVM and other machine learning approaches to predict group labels for autism and typical development using feature engineering from EEG, eyetracking, and computer vision time-series data. • Leveraged experience in computer programming, data science, and statistical methods to identify meaningful biomarkers resulting in 3 manuscripts, 5 posters, and 9 presentations.

Gained as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles • Managed, provided training and ongoing input to direct reports consisting of an interdisciplinary team of 16 students (2 PhD, 2 masters, and 8 undergraduate, 4 high school students), 2 postdocs, and 7 research assistants. • Designed, procured, and supervised the construction of the 3200 sq ft lab space as well as the installation of million-dollar high-performance equipment for collection of physiological and behavioral data.

Gained as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles • Contributed to progress and annual reports with an interdisciplinary team, according to the funding agencies' requirements. • Created standardized study protocols, operational plans, informed consent forms, and other regulatory materials. • Created electronic databases, defined the data structures, and monitored data quality for completeness and integrity throughout the study while collaborating with key opinion leaders on protocol optimization and study benchmarking.

• Presented complex scientific concepts, developed course materials, and hands-on in-person demonstration of experiments for a graduate course in Neuroanatomy with 60 students. • Leveraged experience using instructional design processes to build online curricula and teach a course on theoretical and practical EEG and ERP data collection, preprocessing and analytical approaches.

Gained as a Graduate Research Assistant at Vanderbilt University • Collaborated with 4 interdisciplinary labs on the multi-site, longitudinal research study for the development of the Behavioral Inflexibility Scale-Clinical Interview resulting in 3 authorship credits. • Led the recruitment and enrollment of 200 participants and facilitated data collection activities for 4 research studies. • Conducted standardized clinical interviews in a research-reliable manner leading to the development of a new scale for autism and validated this scale for test-retest reliability.

Gained as a Graduate Research Assistant at Vanderbilt University • Established the validity of EEG microstates (dynamic patterns of scalp potential topographies) as a biomarker for autism spectrum disorders resulting in a first-author manuscript. • Gained proficiency in MATLAB and R programming languages to perform ERP data analysis resulting in 6 poster presentations.

• Developed novel viral vectors and optimized gene therapy delivery approaches for preclinical neurodevelopmental animal models of rare diseases such as Rett Syndrome, Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN), and Lysosomal Storage Disorders such as Tay-Sachs disease, Krabbe Disease, and Batten Disease. • Managed rodent colony, breeding programs, and genotyping while executing independent projects • Collaborated on discovery research teams, early development cross-functional teams, and preclinical projects in a matrixed environment as evidenced by 5 poster presentations and 8 publications. • Isolated PBMCs from human blood samples for evaluation of immune cell responses to AAV using the ELISPOT • Contributed to the preparation of preclinical protocols and IND-enabling studies resulting in the successful implementation of the GAN clinical trial. • Gained an in-depth background in pharmacology by successfully completing graduate coursework in Genetic Engineering in Neurobiology, Introduction to Molecular Pharmacology, Principles of Pharmacology and Physiology at UNC.