André Fabio Kohn,
Ph.D.
andfkohn@leb.usp.br
phone: (55-11) 3091-5535 fax: (55-11) 3091-5718
E.E.(Electrical Engineering): Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Escola Politécnica, Dec. 1973
M.S.E.E. : Universidade de São Paulo (USP), 1976 (research on computerized electrocochleography)
Ph.D. : University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), 1980 (research on the communication across an inhibitory synapse in crayfish and in eletronic and mathematical models)
Professor of Biomedical Engineering at USP
Founder and co-Director of the Biomedical Engineering Laboratory at USP
Member of the campus-wide Neuroscience graduate program at USP
Researcher at the National
Institutes of Health (NINDS) from 10/1994 to 4/1995
Research Interests
Human Neurophysiology
with Emphasis on the Spinal Cord
Modeling and Simulation
of Neurons and Neuronal Networks
Motor Control in Humans
and Animals
Clinical Neurophysiology
Biomedical Signal Processing
and Pattern Recognition
MS and Ph.D. advisor
I advise students from engineering, physics,
computer science and equivalent backgrounds in the
Electrical Engineering Program of the Escola Politécnica
da USP (http://www.pcs.usp.br/~posgrad-eletrica/). These students
usually do research on the mathematical modelling of
neurons and their networks, synapses, muscles and the
complex interactions of all these elements together. One
of the goals is to increase knowledge related to motor
control at different levels of organization.
I also advise students from biomedical sciences backgrounds in the campus-wide Neurosciences Program (http://www.ip.usp.br/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=949%3Aapresentacao-do-programa-de-pos-graduacao-em-neurociencias-e-comportamento&catid=252&Itemid=114&lang=pt). These students do experimental work dealing with human motor control and human spinal cord.
Papers
and Book Chapters
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F.H. Magalhães, D.R. Toledo and A.F. Kohn (2013). Plantar flexion force induced by amplitude-modulated tendon vibration and associated soleus V/F-waves as an evidence of a centrally-mediated mechanism contributing to extra torque generation in humans Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 2013, 10:32
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L.A. Elias and A.F. Kohn (2013). Individual and collective properties of computationally efficient motoneuron models of types S and F with active dendrites Neurocomputing - Volume 99, 1 January 2013, Pages 521–533
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R. A. Mezzarane, A. F. Kohn, E. Couto-Roldan, L. Martinez, A. Flores and E. Majarrez (2012) Absence of effects of contralateral group I muscle afferents on presynaptic inhibition of Ia terminals in humans and cats JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY August 15, 2012 vol. 108 no. 4 1176-1185
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L.A. Elias, V.M Chaud and A.F. Kohn (2012). Models of passive and active dendrite motoneuron pools and their differences in muscle force control Journal of Computational Neuroscience
December 2012, Volume 33, Issue 3, pp 515-531.
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F.H. Magalhães and A.F. Kohn (2012). Imperceptible electrical noise attenuates isometric plantar flexion force fluctuations with correlated reductions in postural sway. EXP.BRAIN RES. 2012 Mar;217(2):175-186. Epub 2011 Dec 24.
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F.H. Magalhães and A.F. Kohn (2011). Vibratory noise to the fingertip enhances balance improvement associated with light touch. EXP.BRAIN RES. 209, 139-151.
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F.H. Magalhães and A.F. Kohn (2011). Vibration-enhanced posture stabilization achieved by tactile supplementation: May blind individuals get extra benefits? Med Hypotheses. 2011 May 20.
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P. H. Marchetti, A. F. Kohn and M. Duarte (2011). Selective activation of the rectus abdominis muscle during low-intensity and fatiguing tasks. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine(2011) 10, 322-327.
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F.H. Magalhães and A.F. Kohn (2010). Vibration-induced extra torque during electrically-evoked contractions of the human calf muscles. J. Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation, 7:26
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R. A. Mezzarane and A. F. Kohn (2009) A method to estimate EMG crosstalk between two muscles based on the silent period following an H-reflex. Medical Engineering & Physics 31 (2009) 1331-1336
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R. A. Mezzarane and A. F. Kohn (2008) Postural control during kneeling. Exp Brain Res (2008) 187:395–405. DOI 10.1007/s00221-008-1308-x
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M.C.S. Fornari and A.F. Kohn (2008). High frequency tendon reflexes in the human soleus muscle. NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS, v. 440, p. 193-196. DOI 10.1016/j.neulet.2008.05.075.
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R.R.L. Cisi and A.F. Kohn (2008). Simulation system of spinal cord motor nuclei and associated nerves and muscles, in a web-based architecture. JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE, 25, 520-542. DOI 10.1007/s10827-008-0092-8.
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R.A. Mezzarane and A.F. Kohn (2007). Control of upright stance over inclined surfaces. EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH, 180, 377-388.
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M.F. Vieira and A.F. Kohn (2007). Compartmental models of mammalian motoneurons of types S, FR and FF and their computer simulation .COMPUTERS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE, 37, 842-860.
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A.F. Kohn(2006). Autocorrelation and Cross-correlation Methods .Wiley Encyclopedia of Biomedical Engineering, Ed. Metin Akay. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 23 pp.
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A.F. Kohn (2005). Cross-correlation between EMG and center of gravity during quiet stance: theory and simulations. BIOLOGICAL CYBERNETICS, 93, 382-388.
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E. Manjarrez, Z. Hernández-Paxtián and A.F. Kohn (2005). Spinal source for the synchronous fluctuations of bilateral monosynaptic reflexes in cats. JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY, 94, 3199-3210.
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L.M. Lucchesi, S. Pompéia, G.M. Manzano, A.F. Kohn, J.C. Galduroz, O.F.A. Bueno and S. Tufik (2003). Flunitrazepam-induced changes in neurophysiological, behavioural and subjective measures used to assess sedation. PROG NEURO-PSYCHOPHARMACOL BIOL PSYCHIAT, 27, 525-533.
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A.F. Kohn e M.F. Vieira (2002). Optimality in the encoding/decoding relations of motoneurones and muscle units. BIOSYSTEMS, 67, 113-119.
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R.A. Mezzarane and A.F. Kohn (2002). Bilateral soleus H-reflexes in humans elicited by simultaneous trains of stimuli: symmetry, variability and covariance. JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY, 87, 2074-2083.
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G.M. Manzano and A.F. Kohn (2000). Proximal receptors and the mechanical stimulation of the fingers: a somatosensory evoked potential study. Electromyogr. Clin. Neurophysiol, 40, 21-29.
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D.G. Goroso, R.R.L. Cisi and A.F. Kohn (2000). The amplitude and phase responses of the firing rates of some motoneuron models. BIOSYSTEMS, 58, 33-39.
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A. F. Kohn (1998). Effects of synaptic noise on a neuronal pool model with strong excitatory drive and recurrent inhibition. BIOSYSTEMS, 48, 113-121.
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A.F. Kohn, M.K. Floeter and M. Hallett (1997). Presynaptic inhibition compared with homosynaptic depression as an explanation for soleus H reflex depression in humans. EXP. BRAIN RES., 116, 375-380.
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M. K. Floeter and A. F. Kohn (1997). H reflexes of different sizes exhibit differential sensitivity to low frequency depression. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol (Electromyography and motor control), 105, 470-475.
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A. F. Kohn (1997). Computer simulations of noise resulting from random synaptic activities. Comput. Biol. Med., 27, 293-308.
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A.F. Kohn, L.G.M. Nakano, M. Oliveira and Silva (1996). A class discriminability measure based on feature space partitioning. Pattern Recognition, 29, 873-887.
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A.F. Kohn and S. S. Furuie (1991). Safety in medical signal analysis. I.E.E.E. ENG. MED. BIOL. MAG., 10, pages 56 and 62.
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A.F. Kohn (1989). A versatile waveform generator for testing neuroeletric signal processors. J. NEUROSCI. METH., 29, 157-163.
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A.F. Kohn (1989). Dendritic transformations on random synaptic inputs as measured from a neuron's spike train - Modeling and simulation. I.E.E.E. TRANS. BIOMED. ENG., 36, 44-54.
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A.F. Kohn (1987). Phase distortion in biological signal analysis caused by linear phase FIR filters. MED. BIOL. ENG. COMP., 25, 231-238.
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O.D.Martinez, A.F.Kohn and J.P.Segundo (1983). Pervasive locking, saturation, asymmetric rate sensitivity and double- valuedness in crayfish strech-receptors. BIOL. CYBERN., 49, 33-45.
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A.F.Kohn and J.P.Segundo (1983). Neuromime and computer simulations of synaptic interactions between pacemakers. Mathematical expansions of existing models. J. THEOR. NEUROBIOL., 2, 101-125.
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A.F.Kohn, A.F.Rocha and J.P.Segundo (1981). Presynaptic irregularity and pacemaker inhibition. BIOL. CYBERN., 41, 5-18.
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J.P.Segundo and A.F.Kohn (1981). A model of excitatory synaptic interactions between pacemakers. Its reality, its generality and the principles involved. BIOL. CYBERN., 40, 113-126.
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Selected Conference Publications
- V.M Chaud, L.A. Elias,
R. N. Watanabe and A.F. Kohn (2012). A
simulation study of the effects of activation-dependent
muscle stiffness on proprioceptive feedback and
short-latency reflex The Fourth IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference
on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics. Roma, Italy.
June 24-27, 2012. Page(s): 133 - 138
- L. A. Elias and A. F. Kohn
(2010)
Single
neuron
and
network models in force control. In: 9th Neural
Coding Workshop, Limassol.
- A.F. Kohn (2009). Force fluctuations in a simulated motoneuron pool - World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Munich, Germany, IFMBE Proceedings 25/IX, pp. 197–200.
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R.R.L. Cisi and A.F. Kohn (2008). From neuronal ionic channels to muscle control: a Web-based simulator and its application to teaching. World Congress of Engineering /International Conference on Systems Biology and Bioengineering. London, pp 1-4.
- R.R.L. Cisi and A.F. Kohn (2007). H-reflex
depression simulated by a biologically realistic
motoneuron network. 29th Annual International
Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology
Society, Lyon, France, 4 pages in CD-ROM.
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A.F. Kohn (2007). Estimation of neural noise spectrum in a postural control model. IFMBE Proceedings, vol. 16, of the 11th Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering (Ljubljana, Slovenia), 419-422.
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L.A. Okai e A.F. Kohn (2006). The influence of the flexor digitorum brevis muscle on postural stability. XVI Congress of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (Torino, Italy), pp 1.
- L.A. Okai and A.F. Kohn (2005). Effects of contractions of the flexor digitorum brevis muscle on postural stability. Progress in Motor Control V (State College, PA, USA), pp. 23 section 1.
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R.R.L.Cisi and A.F. Kohn (2004). Spinal Cord Neuronal Network Simulator. Proceedings of the 28th Conference of the Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society (Quebec, Canadá), CD-ROM, pp 1-3.
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A.F. Kohn, M. K. Floeter and M. Hallett (1995). A model-based approach for the quantification of H reflex depression in humans. 17th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (Montreal, Canada).
Specific Research Interests
Spinal cord neurophysiology
studied by means of the analysis of postural and
reflex dynamics. Analysis of the electrical activity of
muscles, nerves and the brain for research and clinical
diagnosis. Mathematical modeling and simulation of
neurons, synapses and neuronal networks of the spinal
cord.
Some Activities at the University of Sao Paulo
Teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, e.g., Signals and Systems I and II, Fundamentals of Neuroscience, Spinal Cord Neurophysiology, Neurophysiology of Motor Control, Digital Signal Processing, Biological Signal Processing. Advising undergraduate and graduate students (from the biomedical and the hard sciences) on human neurophysiology and on neuronal modeling and simulation. Coordinating many of the activities of the lab.
Research
Experience
H-reflex, presynaptic and
reciprocal inhibition in humans, bilateral reflexes;
postural control; evoked brain potentials; human
electromyography; digital signal processing and
pattern recognition applied to neuroelectric signals;
modeling and simulation of neurons and neuronal
networks; biomedical instrumentation; crayfish
inhibitory synapse and stretch receptor dynamics.
pictures taken from
our neurophysiology lab
Miscellany
Recipient of the Ralph Crump
Award for Excellence in Medical Engineering at UCLA in 1980. Member of the CNPq
(Brazilian N.S.F.) National Committee for Electrical and
Biomedical Engineering from 1991 to 1993 and 2005 to 2007.
Member of Scientific Committees of national and
international Conferences on Biomedical Engineering and
Neuronal Modeling.
Hobbies
Eco-travel
to wonderful forests, mountains, waterfalls and beaches in Brazil.
Watching/listening DVDs and CDs (pop/rock,
classical, jazz), reading books, barbecue activities.
Address
andfkohn@leb.usp.br
Universidade de São Paulo,
Escola Politécnica, PTC
Cx.P. 61548
CEP 05424-970, São Paulo, S.P., Brasil
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or (a non-post office box address):
Universidade
de São Paulo,
Escola Politécnica, PTC
Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, Trav 3, 158
CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, S.P., Brasil
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or if you come personally:
room D2-09 of block D
at the Electrical Engineering
Building