I'm a Neuroscientist, working in the Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT) in Marseille, France, a joint research unit between CNRS & Aix-Marseille University.
List of scientific publications on Google Scholar
ORCID researcher profile
BRIEF SUMMARY OF RESEARCH INTERESTS
My scientific work is aimed at understanding local and large-scale dynamics of visuomotor integration and attention in non-human primate (NHP) cortical networks.
Current research focuses on complementarities and interactions between motor and parietal cortical areas during visuomotor behavior, and across different levels of arousal. We are also starting a new project related to cortico-striatal interactions during learning and adaptation of interceptive movements. We investigate this with multi-area laminar recordings, enabling the study of local (intra- and inter-layer) as well as large-scale (inter-areal) network dynamics.
We focus on the activity of individual neurons (Confais et al. 2012; Kilavik 2018) and of neuronal populations (Kilavik et al. 2009; Kilavik et al. 2010).
We want to understand how timing influences motor cortical activity across different scales (Kilavik et al. 2014; Kilavik & Riehle 2010).
Furthermore, we have particular interest in the dynamics of local field potential (LFP) beta oscillations (Kilavik et al. 2012; Denker et al. 2018; Torrecillos et al. 2015; Zaepffel et al. 2013), and their relationship to local spiking activity (Confais et al. 2020).
A major question is the potential role of beta oscillations in sensorimotor functions and network communication (Kilavik et al. 2013; Schmidt et al. 2019). We therefore study the role of beta oscillations in intra- and inter-areal functional connectivity in parieto-motor networks. Recently we described the motor cortical sources and behavioral correlates of low and high beta band rhythms (Nougaret et al. 2023).
NEWS
November 2019:
Our FLAG-ERA project PrimCorNet for partnering with the HBP was accepted, and will run from 2020-23. The other PIs in PrimCorNet are Thomas Brochier @ INT (Marseille), Georgia Gregoriou @ FORTH (Crete), and Sacha van Albada @ Forschungzentrum (Juelich).
PrimCorNet will combine experimental and modeling work to explore how local and large-scale dynamics are shaped within and across primate visuo-parieto-frontal cortical networks.
Welcome to Dr. Simon Nougaret as post-doc working on this project!
May 2020:
Our MSCA ITN project In2PrimateBrains has finally been accepted, and will run from 2021-25! The training consortium is coordinated by Kilavik/Brochier @ INT, and includes 11 Public and Private Sector Beneficiaries across France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Belgium and UK, and several Partnering Organizations. This project was in part made possible due to an initial financial aid obtained from the French ANR, allowing to establish the international consortium.
In2PrimateBrains proposes a highly competitive training-through-research programme dedicated to the study of neuronal intra and inter-areal communication in non-human primate (NHP) brains.
Welcome to Mrs Laura López Galdo as PhD student working on our collaborative project with Dr. Demian Battaglia!
July 2022:
We are happy to announce that Mrs Nilanjana Nandi was successful in obtaining an international incoming PhD grant from the Marseille NeuroSchool PhD program. She will join us in December, and work on a new project related to fronto-parietal and cortico-striatal neuronal interactions underlying interceptive movements in macaques (In2CoSt). She will be co-supervised by Dr. Simon Nougaret.
March 2023:
Welcome to Mrs Laurie Mifsud who will start a PhD project under supervision of Matthieu Gilson @ the INT BraiNets team, and me @ the INT CoMCo team. Her project focuses on modeling of biological neuronal network processing, investigating the transformation of neuronal representations from stimuli to motor responses, with a specific focus on the role of cortical layers.