Apostolos P. Georgopoulos, M.D., Ph.D.

Regents Professor, Departments of Neuroscience, Neurology, and Psychiatry; McKnight Presidential Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience; Director and American Legion Brain Sciences Chair

E-MAIL: [email protected]


Research Interests:

The long-term goals of the research in our laboratory are to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive processes in motor behavior and to understand the intrinsic mechanisms of the cerebral cortex. We pursue experimental psychological studies, neurophysiological recordings, functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at high field (4 Tesla), and neural network modeling (using supercomputers) to achieve these goals.

We carry out psychological studies in both human subjects and rhesus monkeys. The tasks are cognitive-motor in nature and employ paradigms of mental rotation, memory scanning, and visuomotor control of isometric force trajectories generated by the arm. Functional MRI in human subjects distinguishes the patterns of activation of brain areas during performance of these tasks. Electrophysiological recordings of the activity of single cells in motor and other areas of the cerebral cortex are then conducted in behaving monkeys in order to elucidate the brain mechanisms involved in these tasks. This experimental arrangement provides for a direct study of the relations between neuronal populations and behavior. We model the activity in these neuronal populations using a massively interconnected neural network to produce dynamically evolving trajectories under external guidance and from memory. Finally, we use information theory as a metrics-free analytical tool.


Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

  • Mavanji V, Georgopoulos AP, Kotz CM. Orexin enhances neuronal synchronization in adult rat hypothalamic culture: A model to study hypothalamic function. J Neurophysiol. 2022 May 1;127(5):1221-1229.
  • Christova P, Joseph J, Georgopoulos AP. Functional cortical associations and their intraclass correlations and heritability as revealed by the fMRI Human Connectome Project. Exp Brain Res. 2022 Mar 15. doi: 10.1007/s00221-022-063.
  • Christova P, James LM, Georgopoulos AP. Effects of sex and age on presumed inhibitory interactions in 6 areas of the human cerebral cortex as revealed by the fMRI Human Connectome Project. Exp Brain Res. 2022 May;240(5):1459-1469.
  • Christova P, Joseph J, Georgopoulos AP. Human connectome project: heritability of brain volumes in young healthy adults. Exp Brain Res. 2021 Apr;239(4):1273-1286.
  • Tsilibary EC, Souto EP, Kratzke M, James LM, Engdahl BE, Georgopoulos AP. Anthrax protective antigen 63 (PA63): Toxic effects in neural cultures and role in Gulf War illness (GWI). Neurosci Insights. 2020 Jun 30;15:2633105520931966.
  • Christova P, Joseph J, Georgopoulos AP. Behavioral-genetic associations in the Human Connectome Project. Exp Brain Res. 2020 Nov;238(11):2445-2456.
  • Tsilibary EC, Souto EP, Kratzke M, James LM, Engdahl BE, Georgopoulos AP. Vaccine-induced adverse effects in cultured neuroblastoma 2A (N2A) cells duplicate toxicity of serum from patients with Gulf War Illness (GWI) and are prevented in the presence of specific anti-vaccine antibodies. Vaccines (Basel). 2020 May 18;8(2). pii: E232.
  • James LM, Georgopoulos AP. Human leukocyte antigen as a key factor in preventing dementia and associated apolipoprotein E4 risk. Front Aging Neurosci. 2019 Apr 12;11:82.
  • Engdahl BE, James LM, Miller RD, Leuthold AC, Lewis SM, Carpenter AF, Georgopoulos AP. Brain function in Gulf War Illness (GWI) and associated mental health comorbidities. J Neurol Neuromedicine. 2018;3(4):24-34.
  • James LM, Dolan S, Leuthold AC, Engdahl BE, Georgopoulos A, Georgopoulos AP. The effects of human leukocyte antigen DRB1*13 and apolipoprotein E on age-related variability of synchronous neural interactions in healthy women. EBioMedicine. 2018;35:288-294.
  • Carpenter AF, Baud-Bovy G, Georgopoulos AP, Pellizzer G. Encoding of serial order in working memory: Neuronal activity in motor, premotor and trefrontal cortex during a memory scanning task. J Neurosci. 2018;38(21):4912-4933.
  • James LM, Christova P, Lewis SM, Engdahl BE, Georgopoulos A, Georgopoulos AP. Protective effect of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele DRB1*13:02 on age-related brain gray matter volume reduction in healthy women. EBioMedicine. 2018;29:31-37.
  • James LM, Christova P, Engdahl BE, Lewis SM, Carpenter AF, Georgopoulos AP. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and Gulf War Illness (GWI): HLA-DRB1*13:02 spares subcortical atrophy in Gulf War veterans. EBioMedicine. 2017;26:126-131
  • Georgopoulos AP, James LM, Carpenter AF, Engdahl BE, Leuthold AC, Lewis SM. Gulf War illness (GWI) as a neuroimmune disease. Exp Brain Res. 2017;235:3217-3225.
  • Christova P, James LM, Engdahl BE, Lewis SM, Carpenter AF, Georgopoulos AP. Subcortical brain atrophy in Gulf War illness. Exp Brain Res. 2017;235:2777-2786.
  • Georgopoulos AP, Georgopoulos A. The beautiful brain and the influence of Santiago Ramón y Cajal on medicine. JAMA. 2017;318:502-504.
  • James LM, Engdahl BE, Georgopoulos AP. Apolipoprotein E: the resilience gene. Exp Brain Res. 2017;235:1853-1859.
  • James LM, Engdahl BE, Leuthold AC, Georgopoulos AP. Brain correlates of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) protection in Gulf War illness (GWI). EBioMedicine. 2016 Nov;13:72-79.
  • Lewis SM, Vydrová RR, Leuthold AC, Georgopoulos AP. Cortical miscommunication after prenatal exposure to alcohol. Exp Brain Res. 2016;234:3347-3353
  • Engdahl BE, James LM, Miller RD, Leuthold AC, Lewis SM, Carpenter AF, Georgopoulos AP. magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study of Gulf War illness (GWI). EBioMedicine. 2016;12:127-132.
  • Scott NM, Leuthold A, Sera MD, Georgopoulos AP. Differential neural activity patterns for spatial relations in humans: a MEG study. Exp Brain Res. 2016;234:429-441
  • James LM, Engdahl BE, Leuthold AC, Krueger RF, Georgopoulos AP. Pathological personality traits modulate neural interactions. Exp Brain Res. 2015;233(12):3543-52.
  • Sakellaridi S, Christova P, Christopoulos V, Leuthold AC, Peponis J, Georgopoulos AP. Neural mechanisms underlying the exploration of small city maps using magnetoencephalography. Exp Brain Res. 2015;233(11):3187-200.
  • Sakellaridi S, Christova P, Christopoulos VN, Vialard A, Peponis J, Georgopoulos AP. Cognitive mechanisms underlying instructed choice exploration of small city maps. Front Neurosci. 2015;9:60.
  • Scott NM, Sera MD, Georgopoulos AP. An information theory analysis of spatial decisions in cognitive development. Front Neurosci. 2015 Feb 4;9:14.
  • Georgopoulos AP, Carpenter AF. Coding of movements in the motor cortex. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2015;33C:34-39.
  • James LM, Belitskaya-Lévy I, Lu Y, Wang H, Engdahl BE, Leuthold AC, Georgopoulos AP. Development and application of a diagnostic algorithm for posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychiatry Res. 2015;231(1):1-7.
  • Merchant H, Crowe DA, Fortes AF, Georgopoulos AP. Motor directional tuning across brain areas: directional resonance and the role of inhibition for directional accuracy. Front Neurosci. 2014;8:245.

Former Graduate Students:

Bruno Averbeck (Ph.D. 2001, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

David Crowe (Ph.D. 2001, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Antonio Fortes (Ph.D. 2005, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Trenton Jerde (Ph.D. 2004, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Fred Langheim (Ph.D. 2004, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Thomas Naselaris (Ph.D. 2005, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Nicholas Port (Ph.D. 1997, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Picture of Apostolos Georgopoulos