Anna Wang Roe, Ph.D.

Anna Wang Roe, Ph.D.

Director of Translational Neuroscience
Center for Biomedical Imaging & Neuromodulation
845-398-6539

My research focuses on how the brain ‘sees’ and ‘thinks’ about the visual world. Much of what we understand about our world (object recognition, navigation of our own bodies in relation to the environment, and socialization with other people) is provided by visual understanding. Vision is thus an important model for understanding human behavior and thought. Towards this goal, I have studied brain and behavior in nonhuman primates, as they have visual capacities (such as foveal vision and looking behavior) very similar to that of humans, similar brain organizations, and well-established social behaviors. My research has employed a combination of electrical, optical, and ultrahigh field MRI methods to study the basic functional organization and circuitry of the brain in NHPs. These have provided high spatial and temporal resolution views of the fundamental columnar units of the working brain that have led to understanding about the brain’s ‘columnar code’. With this understanding, we are working on methods to treat brain neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders via targeted and focal neuromodulation. Projects include functional characterization of circuits underlying object identification and looking behavior, visual brain-machine interface, mapping of microvasculature and micro-infarcts relevant to stroke, and focal neuromodulation methods relevant for neurological and neuropsychiatric disease.

Select Publications

Recent Publications

  • Wang JB*, Liu Y, Ma Y, Lin L, Berman AJL, Bollmann S, Polimeni JR**, Roe AW** (2025) In vivo 7 Tesla MRI of non-human primate intracortical microvascular architecture. Neuron, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.028. [IF 14.7]
  • Ping A*, Wang JB,  García-Cabezas MA, Li LH, Zhang JM, Zhu JM**, Gothard K**, Roe AW** (2025) Brainwide mesoscale functional networks revealed by infrared neural stimulation of the amygdala. National Science Review, 12(4):nwae473. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwae473. [IF 16.3]
  • Tian F*, Liu Y*, Chen M, Schriver KE, Roe AW** (2025) Selective activation of mesoscale functional circuits via multi-channel infrared stimulation of cortical columns in ultra-high field 7T MRI. Cell Rep Meth 5:100961, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crmeth.2024.100961 [IF 4.3]
  • Qian M*, Wang JB*, Gao Y, Zhou DF, Liu Y, Zhang XT**, Hu JM**, Roe AW** (2025) Multiple foveolar representations in awake macaque monkey imaged in 7T MRI. Nature Neurosci.  doi: 10.1038/s41593-024-01810-4. [IF 21.2]
  • Tian FY*, Zhang Y, Schriver KE, Hu JM**, Roe AW** (2024) A novel interface for cortical columnar neuromodulation with multi-point infrared neural stimulation. Nature Comm, 15(1):6528. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50375-0.  https://sciencecast.org/casts/tpur2jsq4n8l [IF 14.7]
  • Wang JB*, Du X, Yao S, Li L, Tanigawa H, Zhang X, Roe AW** (2024) Mesoscale organization of ventral and dorsal visual pathways in macaque monkey revealed by 7T fMRI. Progress in Neurobiol. 1:234:102584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2024.102584. [IF 6.7]
  • Zhou T, Kawasaki K, Suzuki T, Hasegawa I, Roe AW*, Tanigawa H* (2023) Mapping information flow between the inferotemporal and prefrontal cortices via neural oscillations during memory retrieval and maintenance. Cell Reports 42(10):113169. doi.org/101016/j.celrep.2023.113169. [IF 8.8]
  • Pan L*, Ping A, Schriver KE, Roe AW**, Zhu JM**, Xu KD** (2023) Infrared neural stimulation in human cerebral cortex. Brain Stimulation, S1935-861X(23)01680-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2023.01.1678. [IF 8.955]
  • Hu JM, Roe AW (2022) Functionally specific and sparse domain-based micro-networks in monkey V1 and V2. Curr Biol, 32(13):2797-2809.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.095  [IF 10.9]
  • Zhu L, Wang M, Fu P, Liu Y, Zhang H, Roe AW**, Xi W** (2022) Precision 1070 nm Ultrafast Laser-Induced Photothrombosis of Depth-Targeted Vessels In Vivo. Small Methods. 7(1):e2200917. doi: 10.1002/smtd.202200917. [IF 15.637]
  • Zhang H*, Fu P*, Liu Y*, Zheng Z, Zhu L, Wang M, Abdellah M, He M, Qian J, Roe AW**, Xi W** (2022) Large-depth three-photon fluorescence microscopy imaging of cortical microvasculature on nonhuman primates with bright AIE probe In vivo. Biomaterials. 289:121809. doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2022.121809. [IF 15.304]

Reviews

  • Roe AW (2023) BMI 2.0: Towards a technological interface with brainwide networks. Neuron, 111(11):1687-1688.  doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.05.012.
  • Roe AW, Chen G, Xu AG, Hu JM (2020) A roadmap to a columnar visual cortical prosthetic. Curr Opin Physiol, 16:68–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cophys.2020.06.009 Review & Viewpoint.
  • Roe AW (2019) Columnar connectome: towards a mathematics of brain function. Network Neuroscience 3(3):779-791. doi.org/10.1162/netn_a_00088.
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