Kathleen Cullen

Kathleen E. Cullen received a PhD in 1991 from the Committee on Neurobiology. Her advisor was Robert A. McCrea. Dr. Cullen was a Fellow at the Montreal Neurological Institute where she worked in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgy. In 1994, Dr. Cullen became an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology at McGill University, with appointments in Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience, and Otolaryngology. In 2002, Cullen was appointed a William Dawson Chair in recognition of her work in Systems Neuroscience and Neural Engineering, and served as Director of McGill’s Aerospace Medical Research Unit comprising four faculty and their research labs. In 2016, Dr. Cullen moved to Johns Hopkins University, where she is now a Professor in Biomedical Engineering, and holds joint appointments in the Departments of Neuroscience and in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.

Kathleen Cullen is now a Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience, and Otolaryngology. She is also the co-director of the Center for Hearing and Balance. Dr. Cullen founded and directs Johns Hopkins’ Systems Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Laboratory (SNNL) which spans the interdisciplinary fields of neural engineering and neuroscience harnessing the power of innovative computational and neurophysiological methodologies. The experimental approach is multidisciplinary and includes high-density neuronal recordings during natural behaviors, the application of deep convolutional networks for movement analysis, and neural computational approaches. The central mission of the research in the SNNL is to advance our fundamental understanding of how the brain encodes and integrates self-motion information, and use this knowledge to drive innovative translational and clinical developments (such as neural prosthetics) to improve patient outcomes. The scientific environment within the SNNL embeds both basic and clinical research on core topics: vertigo and dizziness, gait and posture, and spatial orientation disorders.

The research in Cullen laboratory has three key objectives:
(1) Fundamental research to understand how the brain builds predictive models of the sensory consequences of self-motion. This computation is required to ensure accurate behavior and stable perception in everyday life. Research combines advanced neuronal recording approaches, multi-dimensional motion and virtual reality platforms, and quantification and targeted manipulation of neuronal populations in brainstem, cerebellum, thalamus and cortex.  For example, the SNNL recently discovered how cerebellar neurons selectively encode unexpected self-motion to ensure the maintenance of posture and stable perception. This work advances our understanding how the brain achieves the flexibility required to continuously calibrate relationships between motor signals and the resultant sensory feedback, a computation necessary for our subjective awareness that we control both our actions and their sensory consequences.

(2) Studies of vestibular/balance disorders aimed at understanding how the brain recovers from peripheral vestibular disease and injury. Research in this model is also aimed at optimizing a novel vestibular prosthesis, in collaboration with neurologists, physical therapists and other neuroengineers and neuroscientists. By linking improvements in prosthetic driven behavior to specific changes in neuronal activities at different stages of processing in the vestibular system, the SNNL has establish methods to successively improve the restoration of vestibular labyrinth function in patients. The SNNL is also using the objective assessment differences in the vestibular input experienced by healthy subjects versus patients during typical everyday activities to develop novel rehabilitation and behavioral training treatment approaches.

(3) The development of transformative multichannel recording, quantitative, molecular, and genetic approaches to advance basic and clinical research on the vestibular system and self-motion processing pathways. Experiments combine state-of-the-art molecular techniques with neuronal ensemble recording and optogenetic-based approaches. The aim is to bridge the gap between genes, neuronal circuits, and behavior, to improve the brain’s ability to compensate following sensory loss.

In addition to her research activities, Dr. Cullen currently serves as the Program Chair and Vice President of the Society for the Neural Control of Movement (NCM). Throughout her career, she has been committed to improving diversity in science, including the promotion, visibility, and representation of women and underrepresented minorities.  Dr. Cullen has been an active member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, which works with NASA to identify health risks in extended space flight. Dr. Cullen is also a Section Editor for Neuroscience (Official journal: International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) and Deputy Editor (NeuroEngineering) of Biomedical Engineering (BME) Frontiers (AAAS). She has also served as a reviewing editor on Editorial Boards including the Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Neurophysiology, and Journal of Research in Otolaryngology (JARO). Dr. Cullen has given over 200 national and international Plenary, Keynote, and invited lectures and has also served as a domain expert for well-known media sources (e.g. The Washington Post, Scientific American, CNN, PBS, Wall Street Journal, CTV news, National Public Radio (NPR)).

Education:
PhD, Neuroscience, The University of Chicago, 1991
BS, Neuroscience/Bioelectrical Engineering, Brown University, 1984

Titles:
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Neuroscience
Professor, Otolaryngology
Co-Director, Center for Hearing and Balance
Director, Johns Hopkins Systems Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Laboratory (SNNL)

Affiliated Centers & Institutes:
Center for Hearing and Balance
Institute for Basic Biomedical Science
Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute

Selected Publications:
Cullen KE. Vestibular processing during natural self-motion: implications for perception and action. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2019 Jun;20(6):346-363. doi: 10.1038/s41583-019-0153-1. Review. PMID: 30914780

Jamali M, Carriot J, Chacron MJ, Cullen KE. Coding strategies in the otolith system differ for translational head motion vs. static orientation relative to gravity. elife. 2019 Jun 14;8. pii: e45573. doi: 10.7554/eLife.45573.

Kwan A, Forbes PA, Mitchell DE, Blouin JS, Cullen KE. Neural substrates, dynamics and thresholds of galvanic vestibular stimulation in the behaving primate. Nat Commun. 2019 Apr 23;10(1):1904. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09738-1.

Mitchell DE, Kwan A, Carriot J, Chacron MJ, Cullen KE. Neuronal variability and tuning are balanced to optimize naturalistic self-motion coding in primate vestibular pathways. eLife. 2018 Dec 18; 7:e43019. doi: 10.7554/eLife.43019.

Dale A, Cullen KE. The ventral posterior lateral thalamus preferentially encodes externally applied versus active movement: implications for self-motion perception. Cerebral Cortex. 2017 Nov 28; 29(1):305-318. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhx325.

Cullen KE, Taube JS. Our sense of direction: Progress, controversies and challenges. Nature Neuroscience. 2017 Oct 26; 20(11):1465-1473. doi:10.1038/nn.4658.