Laura Dubreuil Vall
Research in Neuroscience and Machine Learning
Biography
I am an engineer working at the intersection of technology and neuroscience, with a deep passion for investigating the intricacies of the human brain to contribute to a greater understanding and improvement of our mental health as a society.
I graduated in Telecommunications Engineering at Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). After working in academia (ICFO) and completing my master thesis at MIT, I joined Starlab as a Research Engineer, working in applied neuroscience R&D with a focus on EEG signal processing and data analysis for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques (tDCS, tACS and tRNS). After two years, I joined Neuroelectrics team (Starlab’s spinoff company) and I moved to Boston as a Technical Manager to open the first international offices of the company. My experience gave me a lot of empathy for what it takes to commercialize medical devices. During the following years I combined my job at Neuroelectrics with my PhD in Neuroscience at University of Barcelona, in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, where I explored the use of deep learning techniques applied to EEG data to study brain dynamics and physiological biomarkers, as well as the use of transcranial current stimulation as a neuromodulation technique to improve executive function in healthy and clinical populations.
I am currently the Neurotech Innovation Lead at the Neuroscience Product Development division of Genentech/Roche in San Francisco (CA), where my goal is to identify and develop new technologies at the intersection of engineering, AI and medicine, bringing neurotech into biotechnology and leading the transformation of traditional diagnostics and therapies for psychiatric disorders. I am currently working on different projects using machine learning to develop EEG-based biomarkers to predict disease progression, improve patient stratification and predict treatment response. As a neuroscientist, I’m always hoping to meet people with a passion for transformative science who are working on problems that address significant unmet medical needs.
Download my resumé.
- Neurotechnology
- Electroencephalography (EEG)
- Brain stimulation
- Machine learning
- Product Development
- Healthcare Strategy
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PhD in Neuroscience, 2020
University of Barcelona
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MSc in Telecommunications Engineering, 2011
Polytechnic University of Catalonia
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BSc in Telecommunications Engineering, 2008
Polytechnic University of Catalonia
Experience
- Lead the expansion of the company to the US, creating a new team and managing relationships with partners and KOLs in the scientific community.
- Supported product strategy of a medical wearable device for EEG recording and non-invasive brain stimulation (tDCS/tACS/tRNS).
- Managed 300+ accounts with large universities and hospitals, meeting over 120% of revenue goals every year in US and Canada.
- Management of clinical studies and data collection in collaboration with hospitals and universities across the US, including FDA clinical studies and 510k submissions.
- Performed clinical research on the use of EEG as a biomarker for the neuromodulation of executive functions in healthy controls and ADHD patients.
- Designed a deep Learning system based on convolutional neural networks to diagnose ADHD patients and explore new biomarkers based on their EEG signals.
- Signal processing and data analysis for the design and development of systems based on electroencephalography (EEG) for brain computer interfaces (BCI), Neurofeedback and health/medical applications.
- Research in transcranial Current Stimulation (tDCS, tACS and tRNS) for different applications, such as learning and cognitive enhancement or the treatment of chronic pain, post stroke rehabilitation, addictive disorders and depression, among others.
- Improved the design of an underwater acoustic video transmission system by adding video compression techniques and signal processing techniques to compensate for the Doppler effect. Supervisor: Dr. Milica Stojanovic and Dr. Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis.
- Evaluated the effects of the Social Impact Assessment prepared for interstate management of herring in the Northeast US. Supervisor: Dr. Madeleine Hall-Arber.
Projects
Non-invasive brain stimulation
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for the treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions
Galvani
Controlling epileptic brain networks with computationally optimized weak electric fields
Machine Learning for EEG-based biomarkers
Deep Learning with EEG Spectrograms enable ADHD diagnosis and Parkinson’s prognosis
Recent & Upcoming Talks
What is it like as a woman to prepare for and enter a science and engineering workforce where men hold almost 70% of available jobs? …
Recent Publications
Contact
- 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080