Cristin Welle, PhD

Professional Titles

• Professor, Neurosurgery and Physiology & Biophysics
• Vice-Chair for Research, Neurosurgery

Research Interests

Dr. Welle’s BIOElectrics Lab investigates how neurological medical devices interact with the nervous system. We dissect circuit-level structural and functional implications of neuromodulatory and brain-computer-interface devices using optogenetics, chronic electrophysiology and longitudinal in-vivo imaging in animal models. Our goal is to understand the dynamic interactions between devices and neural circuits in the context of translational neurotechnology.

Publications

• Huang R, Carter ER, Hughes EG, Welle CG. Paired vagus nerve stimulation drives precise remyelination and motor recovery after myelin loss. bioRxiv. 2024 May 12. PubMed PMID: 38766201
• Johnson KA, Dosenbach NUF, Gordon EM, Welle CG, Wilkins KB, Bronte-Stewart HM, Voon V, Morishita T, Sakai Y, Merner AR, Lázaro-Muñoz G, Williamson T, Horn A, Gilron R, O'Keeffe J, Gittis AH, Neumann WJ, Little S, Provenza NR, Sheth SA, Fasano A, Holt-Becker AB, Raike RS, Moore L, Pathak YJ, Greene D, Marceglia S, Krinke L, Tan H, Bergman H, Pötter-Nerger M, Sun B, Cabrera LY, McIntyre CC, Harel N, Mayberg HS, Krystal AD, Pouratian N, Starr PA, Foote KD, Okun MS, Wong JK. Proceedings of the 11th Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank: pushing the forefront of neuromodulation with functional network mapping, biomarkers for adaptive DBS, bioethical dilemmas, AI-guided neuromodulation, and translational advancements. Front Hum Neurosci. 2024;18:1320806. PubMed PMID: 38450221
• Ye M, Zestos AG, Welle CG, Wu GK, Cui XT. Editorial: Safety and efficacy evaluation of electrical stimulation devices for neural modulation. Front Neurosci. 2023;17:1143989. PubMed PMID: 36824215
• Kumar V, Behrman K, Speed F, Saladrigas CA, Supekar O, Huang Z, Bright VM, Welle CG, Restrepo D, Gopinath JT, Gibson EA, Kymissis I. MicroLED light source for optical sectioning structured illumination microscopy. Opt Express. 2023 May 8;31(10):16709-16718. PubMed PMID: 37157744
• Bowles S, Hickman J, Peng X, Williamson WR, Huang R, Washington K, Donegan D, Welle CG. Vagus nerve stimulation drives selective circuit modulation through cholinergic reinforcement. Neuron. 2022 Sep 7;110(17):2867-2885.e7. PubMed PMID: 35858623
• Supekar OD, Sias A, Hansen SR, Martinez G, Peet GC, Peng X, Bright VM, Hughes EG, Restrepo D, Shepherd DP, Welle CG, Gopinath JT, Gibson EA. Miniature structured illumination microscope for in vivo 3D imaging of brain structures with optical sectioning. Biomed Opt Express. 2022 Apr 1;13(4):2530-2541. PubMed PMID: 35519247
• Bowles S, Williamson WR, Nettles D, Hickman J, Welle CG. Closed-loop automated reaching apparatus (CLARA) for interrogating complex motor behaviors. J Neural Eng. 2021 Aug 31;18(4). PubMed PMID: 34407518
• Mughrabi IT, Hickman J, Jayaprakash N, Thompson D, Ahmed U, Papadoyannis ES, Chang YC, Abbas A, Datta-Chaudhuri T, Chang EH, Zanos TP, Lee SC, Froemke RC, Tracey KJ, Welle C, Al-Abed Y, Zanos S. Development and characterization of a chronic implant mouse model for vagus nerve stimulation. Elife. 2021 Apr 6;10. PubMed PMID: 33821789
• Welle CG, Gao YR, Ye M, Lozzi A, Boretsky A, Abliz E, Hammer DX. Longitudinal neural and vascular structural dynamics produced by chronic microelectrode implantation. Biomaterials. 2020 Jan 31;238:119831. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 32045783
• Bacmeister CM, Barr HJ, McClain CR, Thornton MA, Nettles D, Welle CG, Hughes EG. Motor learning promotes remyelination via new and surviving oligodendrocytes. Nat Neurosci. 2020 Jul;23(7):819-831. PubMed PMID: 32424285
• Welle CG, Gao YR, Ye M, Lozzi A, Boretsky A, Abliz E, Hammer DX. Longitudinal neural and vascular structural dynamics produced by chronic microelectrode implantation. Biomaterials. 2020 Apr;238:119831. PubMed PMID: 32045783
• Ye M, Solarana K, Rafi H, Patel S, Nabili M, Liu Y, Huang S, Fisher JAN, Krauthamer V, Myers M, Welle C. Longitudinal Functional Assessment of Brain Injury Induced by High-Intensity Ultrasound Pulse Sequences. Sci Rep. 2019 Oct 29;9(1):15518. PubMed PMID: 31664091
• Ereifej ES, Shell CE, Schofield JS, Charkhkar H, Cuberovic I, Dorval AD, Graczyk EL, Kozai TDY, Otto KJ, Tyler DJ, Welle CG, Widge AS, Zariffa J, Moritz CT, Bourbeau DJ, Marasco PD. Neural engineering: the process, applications, and its role in the future of medicine. J Neural Eng. 2019 Nov 12;16(6):063002. PubMed PMID: 31557730
• Shafer B, Welle C, Vasudevan S. A rat model for assessing the long-term safety and performance of peripheral nerve electrode arrays. J Neurosci Methods. 2019 Dec 1;328:108437. PubMed PMID: 31526764
• Wang J, Lin J, Chen Y, Welle CG, Pfefer TJ. Phantom-based evaluation of near-infrared intracranial hematoma detector performance. J Biomed Opt. 2019 Apr;24(4):1-10. PubMed PMID: 30989838
• Peng XP, Hickman JL, Bowles SG, Donegan DC, Welle CG (2019). Innovations in electrical stimulation harness neural plasticity to restore motor function. Bioelectronics in Medicine, 2019 24 Apr;1(4).
• Jang H, Huang S, Hammer DX, Wang L, Rafi H, Ye M, Welle CG, Fisher JAN. Alterations in neurovascular coupling following acute traumatic brain injury. Neurophotonics. 2017 Oct;4(4):045007. PubMed PMID: 29296629
• Welle CG, Contreras D. New Light on Gamma Oscillations. Neuron. 2017 Jan 18;93(2):247-249. PubMed PMID: 28103471
• Vasudevan S, Patel K, Welle C. Rodent model for assessing the long term safety and performance of peripheral nerve recording electrodes. J Neural Eng. 2017 Feb;14(1):016008. PubMed PMID: 27934777
• Fisher JA, Huang S, Ye M, Nabili M, Wilent WB, Krauthamer V, Myers MR, Welle CG. Real-Time Detection and Monitoring of Acute Brain Injury Utilizing Evoked Electroencephalographic Potentials. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2016 Sep;24(9):1003-1012. PubMed PMID: 26955039
• Bowsher K, Civillico EF, Coburn J, Collinger J, Contreras-Vidal JL, Denison T, Donoghue J, French J, Getzoff N, Hochberg LR, Hoffmann M, Judy J, Kleitman N, Knaack G, Krauthamer V, Ludwig K, Moynahan M, Pancrazio JJ, Peckham PH, Pena C, Pinto V, Ryan T, Saha D, Scharen H, Shermer S, Skodacek K, Takmakov P, Tyler D, Vasudevan S, Wachrathit K, Weber D, Welle CG, Ye M. Brain-computer interface devices for patients with paralysis and amputation: a meeting report. J Neural Eng. 2016 Apr;13(2):023001. PubMed PMID: 26924826
• Cogan SF, Ludwig KA, Welle CG, Takmakov P. Tissue damage thresholds during therapeutic electrical stimulation. J Neural Eng. 2016 Apr;13(2):021001. PubMed PMID: 26792176
• Welle CG, Contreras D. Sensory-driven and spontaneous gamma oscillations engage distinct cortical circuitry. J Neurophysiol. 2016 Apr;115(4):1821-35. PubMed PMID: 26719085
• Hammer DX, Lozzi A, Boretsky A, Welle CG. Acute insertion effects of penetrating cortical microelectrodes imaged with quantitative optical coherence angiography.  Neurophoton.2016 3(2), 025002.
• Welle CG, Hammer DX. Advanced optical imaging applications in the study of acute and chronic response to implanted neural interfaces. The Textbook of Advanced Neurophotonics and Brain Mapping, Eds.: Chen and Kateb, Taylor & Francis, 2015, ISBN: 978-1-4822-3685-9.

Professional Memberships

• Society for Neuroscience, Member