Victor Pikov is a neurophysiologist, cell biologist, molecular biologist, and biomedical software engineer in the Neural Engineering Program. He is a Director of Summer Undergraduate Research Program at HMRI.

Research interests

- Electromagnetic irradiation at millimeter range for stimulating neuronal activity

- Electrical stimulation-induced micturition after spinal cord injury

- Electrical stimulation of the frontal cortex as a model for stroke-induced spinal hyperreflexia

- Use of high-density silicon probes for evaluation of spinal hyperexcitability after stroke

- Genetic modification of neurons with viral constructs for expression of algal light-sensitive protein Channelrhodopsin 2 to allow light-induced neuronal activation in vivo.

- Spinal cord circuitry and control of micturition after spinal cord injury.

- Integrative system analysis in neurophysiology

Degrees and Training

B.A. with Honors in Biopsychology and Computer Sciences at Vassar College, NY in 1995

Ph.D. in Neuroscience/Cell Biology at Georgetown University, DC in 2000

Post-doctoral fellowship, California Institute of Technology, CA in 2000-2002

Accreditations

- Member of an NIH grant review study section.

- Reviewer for the Journal of Neural Engineering , Experimental Neurology, Journal of Urology, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation, Proceedings of the IEEE

Publications

Pikov V, Gillis RA, Jasmin L, Wrathall JR (1998) Assessment of lower urinary tract functional deficit in rats with contusive spinal cord injury. J Neurotrauma 15:375-386.

Pikov V, Wrathall JR (2001) Coordination of the bladder detrusor and the external urethral sphincter in a rat model of spinal cord injury: effect of injury severity. J Neurosci 21:559-569.

Pikov V, Wrathall JR (2002) Altered glutamate receptor function during recovery of bladder detrusor - external urethral sphincter coordination in a rat model of spinal cord injury. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 300: 421-427

Manoonkitiwongsa PS, Lossinsky AS, Pikov V (2003) Fluoro-Jade B offers little advantage as marker of degenerating cat cortical neurons. FASEB J 17: A1177-A1178.

Pikov V (2004) Spinal Plasticity. In: Neuroprosthetics: Theory and Practice (Horch KW, Dhillon GS, eds). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co.

Pikov V, McCreery DB (2004) Mapping of spinal cord circuits controlling the bladder and external urethral sphincter functions in the rabbit. Neurourol Urodyn 23:172-179.

McCreery D, Pikov V, Lossinsky A, Bullara L, Agnew W (2004) Arrays for chronic functional microstimulation of the lumbosacral spinal cord. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 12:195-207.

McCreery D, Lossinsky A, Pikov V, Liu X (2006) A microelectrode array for chronic deep brain stimulation and recording. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 53:726-737.

Hoang TX, Pikov V, Havton LA (2006) Functional reinnervation of the rat lower urinary tract after cauda equina injury and repair. J Neurosci 26:8672-8679.

Pikov V, Bullara L, McCreery DB (2007) Intraspinal stimulation for bladder voiding in cats before and after chronic spinal cord injury. J Neural Eng 4: 356-368.

McCreery DB, Lossinsky A, Pikov V (2007) Performance of multisite silicon microprobes implanted chronically, in the ventral cochlear nucleus of the cat. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 54: 1042-1052.

Pikov V (2008) Intraspinal microstimulation for control of somatic and visceral functions. Review. Proc IEEE (submitted)

Pikov V, McCreery DB (2008) "Virtual stroke" model of spinal hyperexcitability and bladder hyperflexia. Exp Neurol (submitted)

E-mail: pikovAThotmailDOTcom