Michael Merzenich

Michael M. Merzenich (/ˈmɜːrzənɪk/ MURR-zə-nik[4]; born 1942 in Lebanon, Oregon) is a professor emeritus neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. His contributions to the field are numerous. He took the sensory cortex maps developed by his predecessors (Archie Tunturi, Clinton Woolsey, Vernon Mountcastle, Wade Marshall, and Philip Bard) and refined them using dense micro-electrode mapping techniques. Using this, he definitively showed there to be multiple somatotopic maps of the body in the postcentral sulcus,[5][6] and multiple tonotopic maps of the acoustic inputs in the superior temporal plane.[7]

Michael M. Merzenich
Merz,[1] the Good Doctor, the Brain Guy[2]
Born1942 (age 77–78)
Lebanon, Oregon, United States
EducationUniversity of Portland (SB), Johns Hopkins Medical School (PhD in Physiology), University of Wisconsin (postdoctoral studies)
Known forBrain plasticity research[3]
Medical career
ProfessionProfessor emeritus neuroscientist
InstitutionsUniversity of California, San Francisco
ResearchBasic and clinical sciences of hearing
AwardsNational Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Kavli Prize, Russ Prize

He led the cochlear implant team at UCSF,[3][8] which transferred its technology to Advanced Bionics,[9] and their version is the Clarion cochlear implant.[10] He collaborated with Bill Jenkins and Gregg Recanzone to demonstrate sensory maps are labile into adulthood in animals performing operant sensory tasks.[11][12][13] He collaborated with Paula Tallal, Bill Jenkins, and Steve Miller to form the company Scientific Learning.[3][14] This was based on Fast ForWord software they co-invented that produces improvements in children's language skills that has been related to the magnitude of their temporal processing impairments prior to training.[15]

Merzenich was director and Chief Scientific Officer of Scientific Learning between November 1996 and January 2003. Merzenich took two sabbaticals from UCSF, in 1997 and 2004. In 1997 he led research teams at Scientific Learning Corporation, and in 2004 at Posit Science Corporation.[16] Currently, Merzenich's second company, Posit Science Corporation, is working on a broad range of behavioral therapies. Their lead product is a brain-training application called BrainHQ (TM).[17] Merzenich is Chief Scientific Officer, and on the Board of Directors, at Posit Science.[16]

Early biography

Born in Lebanon, Oregon in 1942,[18][19] Merzenich grew up fascinated by science. He attended the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon earning his Bachelor of Science in 1964.[3][20] Here, he was valedictorian, receiving only one non-A, a C in a philosophy course in which he argued with the instructor. In 1968 he earned his PhD in Physiology at Johns Hopkins Medical School in the lab of Vernon Mountcastle, studying neural coding of stimulus magnitude in the hairy skin.[20][21] He left Johns Hopkins to conduct his postdoctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin under Jerzy Rose. There, he did a cross-species analysis of the cochlear nucleus in large game cats and pinnipeds, did the first auditory cortical microelectrode maps in the macaque with John Brugge, and the first somatosensory maps in the macaque with neurosurgeon Ron Paul. He earned his neurophysiology fellowship between 1968 and 1971.[20] He left Wisconsin to join the faculty at UCSF as the only basic scientist in the clinical Otolaryngology department, head and neck surgery.[20][22] Merzenich started with UCSF in 1971 as faculty member becoming full professor in 1980.[16] Merzenich was Co-Director at the Coleman Memorial Laboratory where he conducted research on the cerebral cortex. He was also the Francis A. Sooy Chair of Otolaryngology, in the Keck Center for Integrative Neurosciences at UCSF.[14] His research examines neurological illness, learning processes and the neurological processes of the cerebral cortex.[20] He remains in the same department, now as a professor emeritus, retiring in 2007.[3]

Research on Brain Plasticity

Merzenich has collaborated in numerous studies researching brain plasticity. In February 2004, Merzenich gave a TED talk titled “Growing evidence of brain plasticity” which outlines the basic findings of his research.[23] Merzenich has helped to identify two distinct periods of brain plasticity: The Critical Period and the period of Adult Plasticity.[23] The Infant Critical Period is when a child’s brain establishes neural processes for the stimuli to which it is presented.[23] The Adult Plasticity period is when the brain refines its neural processes as it masters a variety of tasks.[23][24]

Understanding how the brain can re-wire itself has allowed Merzenich, Tallal, and other colleagues to develop strategies intended to remediate individuals with any speech, language, and reading deficits.[24][25] Through research in experience dependent learning with non-human primates, neurophysiologists including Merzenich have demonstrated that neuroplasticity remains through adulthood.[23][24][25][26] Further studies with monkeys suggested that the Hebbian learning principles that drive neuroplasticity can be used to treat learning-language impaired children.[24][25][26]

Dr. James T. Todd, a professor of psychology, has criticized Michael Merzenich for using the term "miraculous" to describe evidence allegedly supporting the rapid prompting method, claiming that scientific outliers are hard to analyze in the laboratory and replicate. Todd says that it is always important to question scientific outliers.[27]

Awards

In May 1999, Merzenich was honored by election into the National Academy of Sciences for his research on brain plasticity.[14][16]

He went on to be elected to the National Academy's Institute of Medicine in 2008, making him one of a very select few to have been elected to more than one of the National Academies.[28]

As of 2001, he received the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions.[18] He has been awarded the International Ipsen Prize,[14]

  • Zülch Prize of the Max-Planck Institute,[14]
  • Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award,[3]
  • The Purkinje Medal,[3] and
  • Karl Spencer Lashley Award.

In 2015, the National Academy of Engineering awarded Dr. Merzenich the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, the most prestigious award in bioengineering, for his work on cochlear implants.[29][30] In 2016 he was awarded one of the world's top neuroscience prizes, the Kavli Prize,[31] for his achievements in the field of brain plasticity.

Merzenich has published more than 200 articles.

His work is also often covered in the popular press, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time and Newsweek.

He has appeared on Sixty Minutes II, CBS Evening News and Good Morning America. His work has been featured on four PBS specials and the ABC Australia documentary "Redesign My Brain" (which aired on Discovery Channel as "Hack My Brain" in the United States.)

He holds nearly 100 US patents.[3][32]

Federal grants
Federal grant awards Michael Merzenich leading researcher
YearGrant abstractCitationRecipient organizationGranted byAmountInflationary conversion [33]
2005–2006Brain plasticity based training for focal dystonia[34]Posit Science CorporationNICHD$195,727$256 thousand
2001–2005Auditory and somatosensory cortex Javits grant[35]UCSFNINDS$1,662,734$2.4 million
2005Brain plasticity based training for Schizophrenia Fast-Track proposal[36]Posit Science CorporationNIMH$139,811$183 thousand
2005Brain plasticity rehabilitaton of visual cognition[37]Posit Science CorporationNEI$97,350$127 thousand
1996–2000Functional organization of auditory somatosensory cortex[38]UCSFNINDS$1,245,234$2.03 million
1992–1995Design Of Pediatric Cochlear Implants[39]UCSFNIDCD$1,097,866$2 million
1981–1995Functional Organization Of The Central Auditory System[40]UCSFNINDS$1,324,202$2.41 million
1987Sensory Disorders And Language Study Section[41]U.S. PHS PUBLIC ADVISORY GROUPSCSR––
1987Scala Tympani Electrode Arrays[42]UCSFNINDS––
1977–1980Development Of An Acoustic Prosthesis[43]UCSFNINDS––
1980–1982Develop Electrodes For Auditory Prosthesis[44]UCSFNINDS––
1975–1980Functional Organization Of The Auditory System[45]UCSFNINDS––
1977–1980Develop Multichannel Electrodes For Auditory Prosthesis[46]UCSFNINDS––
1972–1974Studies On Organization Of Central Auditory System[47]UCSFNINDS––

Patents and inventions

Merzenich holds nearly 100 U.S. patents. Along with Peter B. Delahunt, Joseph L. Hardy, Henry W. Mahncke, and Donald Richards hold the patent for visual emphasis for cognitive training exercises.[48] This patent explores a computer system of visual learning. The participant observes a scene which shows at least one foreground object against a background. The background or foreground are modified to enhance the participants response to achieve a correct response in an iterative basis.[49]

Published works

Merzenich has contributed to over 232 publications.[50]

  • Stryker, Michael P.; Jenkins, William M.; Merzenich, MM (September 18, 1987). "Anesthetic State Does Not Affect the Map of the Hand Representation Within Area 3b Somatosensory Cortex in Owl Monkey" (PDF). The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 258 (2): 297–303. doi:10.1002/cne.902580209. PMID 3584542.
  • Allard, T.T.; Clark, W. M. Jenkins and M. M. Merzenich (September 18, 1987). "Syndactyly results in the emergence of dougle-digit fields in somatosensory cortex in adult owl monkeys". Soc. Neurosci. Abstract 11:965 (Listed in the bibliography for Abstract 11:965).
  • Jenkins, W.M.; Merzenich, M. M.; Ochs, M. T. (September 18, 1987). "Behaviorally controlled differential use of restricted hand surfaces induce changes in the cortical representation of the hand in area 3b of adult owl monkeys". Soc. Neurosci. Abstract 10:665 (Listed in the bibliography for Abstract 11:965): 303.
  • Jenkins, William M.; Merzenich, Michael M. (1987). "Chapter 21 Reorganization of neocortical representations after brain injury: A neurophysiological model of the bases of recovery from stroke". Neural Regeneration. Progress in Brain Research. 71. pp. 249–266. doi:10.1016/s0079-6123(08)61829-4. ISBN 9780444808141. PMID 3588947.
  • Merzenich, M. M.; Sur, M.; Nelson, R. J.; Kaus, J. H. (1981). "The organization of the Si cortex. Multiple representations of the body in primate.". In Woolsey, C. N. (ed.). Cortical Sensory Organization. 1: Multiple Somatic Areas. p. 303.
  • Merzenich, M. M.; Kaas, J. H.; Wall, J.; Nelson, R. J.; Sur, M.; Felleman, D. (1983). "Topographic reorganization of somatosensory cortical areas 3b and 1 in adult monkeys following restricted deafferentation". Neuroscience. 8 (1): 33–55. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.520.9299. doi:10.1016/0306-4522(83)90024-6. PMID 6835522.
  • Merzenich, M. M.; Kaas, J. H.; Wall, J. T.; Sur, M.; Nelson, R. J.; Felleman, D. J. (1983). "Progression of change following median nerve section in the cortical representation of the hand in areas 3b and 1 in adult owl and squirrel monkeys". Neuroscience. 10 (3): 639–65. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.459.5967. doi:10.1016/0306-4522(83)90208-7. PMID 6646426.
  • Merzenich, M. M.; Jenkins, W. M.; Middlebrooks, J. C. (1984). "Observations and hypotheses on special organizational features of the central auditory nervous system.". In G. Edleman; M. Cowan; E. Gall (eds.). Dynamic Aspects of Neocortical Function. New York: John Wiley and Sons. p. 303.
  • Merzenich, M. M.; Nelson, R. J.; Kaas, J. H.; Stryker, M. P.; Jenkins, W. M.; Zook, J. M.; Cynader, M. S.; Schoppmann, A. (1987). "Variability in hand surface representations in areas 3b and 1 in adult owl and squirrel monkeys" (PDF). The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 258 (2): 281–96. doi:10.1002/cne.902580208. PMID 3584541.
  • Wall, J. T.; Kaas, J. H.; Sur, M.; Nelson, R. J.; Felleman, D. J.; Merzenich, M. M. (1986). "Functional reorganization in somatosensory cortical areas 3b and 1 of adult monkeys after median nerve repair: Possible relationships to sensory recovery in humans". The Journal of Neuroscience. 6 (1): 218–33. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.06-01-00218.1986. PMC 6568627. PMID 3944620.
  • Merzenich, M.M.; Jenkins, W.M.; Jonhston, P.; Schreiner, C.; Miller, S.L.; Tallal, P. (1996). "Temporal processing deficits of language-learning impaired children ameliorated by training". Science. 271 (5245): 77–81. doi:10.1126/science.271.5245.77. PMID 8539603.
  • Merzenich, M. M.; Jenkins, W. M. (1995). "Cortical plasticity, learning, and learning dysfunction". In B. Julesz; I. Kovacs (eds.). Maturational Windows and Adult Cortical Plasticity. 23. pp. 247–271.
  • Merzenich, M. M.; Tallal, P.; Peterson, B.; Miller, S. L.; Jenkins, W. M. (1999). "Some neurological principles relevant to the origins of - and the cortical plasticity based remediation of - language learning impairments". In J. Grafman (ed.). Neuroplasticity: Building a Bridge from the Laboratory to the Clinic. pp. 169–187.

Book editor

Further reading
  • Merzenich, Michael, Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life [51]
  • Merzenich, Michael, self-published memoir, A Childhood in the Sticks[52]
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See also

References
  1. Doidge, Norman (2007). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Digitized online by googlebooks). Viking. p. 46. ISBN 9780670038305. Chapter 3 Redesigning the Brain – A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems is a biography about Michael Merzenich.
  2. "Alumni Stories | Alumni | University of Portland". University of Portland. 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
  3. "Michael M. Merzenich, Ph.D. – Posit Science Corporation University of California at San Francisco". Posit Science. 2014. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  4. "Dr. Michael Merzenich: Neuromodulation and Neuroplasticity in Reading Related Brain Processes -1". Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  5. Paul, R.L.; Merzenich, M. & H. Goodman (1972). "Representation of slowly and rapidly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors of the hand in Brodmann's areas 3 and 1 of Macaca mulatta". Brain Research. 36 (2): 229–49. doi:10.1016/0006-8993(72)90732-9. PMID 4621596.
  6. Merzenich, M.M.; Kaas, M., M. Sur and C.S. Lin (1978). "Double representation of the body surface within cytoarchitectonic areas 3b and 2 in Sl in the owl monkey (Aotus trivirgatus)" (PDF). J. Comp. Neurol. 181 (Listed in the bibliography for Abstract 11:965): 41–73. doi:10.1002/cne.901810104. PMID 98537.
  7. Brain Research 50:275-96 1973
  8. Med. Biol. Eng. Computing 21:241–54 1983
  9. "BionicEar.com – Harmony Cochlear Implant by Advanced Bionics". Advanced Bionics. 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  10. "BionicEar.com – Harmony Cochlear Implant by Advanced Bionics". Advanced Bionics. 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  11. Jenkins, W.M.; Merzenich, M.M., M. T. Ochs, T. Allard and E. Guic-Robles (1990). "Functional reorganization of primary somatosensory cortex in adult owl monkeys after behaviorally controlled tactile stimulation". J Neurophysiol. 63 (1): 82–104. doi:10.1152/jn.1990.63.1.82. PMID 2299388.
  12. J. Neurophysiol. 67:1031–56 1992
  13. J. Neurosci. 13:87–103 1993
  14. "Michael M. Merzenich | Scientific Learning". Scientific Learning Corporation. 1997–2009. Archived from the original on 2009-01-08. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  15. Science 271:77–84 1996
  16. "Michael M. Merzenich Profile - Forbes.com". Forbes.com LLC. 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  17. BrainHQ
  18. "Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions: Michael M. Merzenich". PsycARTICLES: Citation and Abstract. American Psychologist. Vol 56(11), Nov 2001, 878–881. Retrieved 2009-01-02. This is an article which requires purchase
  19. A Childhood in the Sticks, author MM Merzenich
  20. "OHNS – Faculty Profiles". Faculty profiles. 2003. Archived from the original on September 30, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  21. Exp. Brain Res. 10:251-64 1970
  22. OHNS at UCSF
  23. "Michael Merzenich: Growing evidence of brain plasticity". TED. TED Conferences LLC. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  24. Merzenich, M.; Jenkins, W.M. (1995). "Cortical plasticity, learning, and learning dysfunction". Maturational Windows and Adult Cortical Plasticity. 23: 247–271.
  25. Merzenich, M.; Tallal, P.; Peterson, B.; Miller, S.L.; Jenkins, W.M. (1999). "Some neurological principles relevant to the origins of - and the cortical plasticity based remediation of - language learning impairments". Neuroplasticity: Building a Bridge from the Laboratory to the Clinic: 169–187. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-59897-5_12.
  26. Merzenich, M.M.; Jenkins, W.M.; Johnston, P.; Schreiner, C.; Miller, S.L.; Tallal, P. (1996). "Temporal processing deficits of language-learning impaired children ameliorated by training". Science. 111 (5245): 77–81. doi:10.1126/science.271.5245.77. PMID 8539603.
  27. Todd, James T. (2015). Controversial Therapies for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities: Fad, Fashion, and Science in Professional Practice. Routledge. p. 375. ISBN 9781317623830. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  28. http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Merzenich-Elected-to-Institute-of-Medicine-27287-1/
  29. "Dr. Michael M. Merzenich". Russ Prize Website. National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  30. Farley, Pete (7 January 2015). "UCSF's Merzenich Wins Russ Prize, Bioengineering's Highest Honor". UCSF News Center. University of California San Francisco. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  31. "Michael Merzenich Wins 2016 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience". UC San Francisco. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  32. Lashley Award Recipients
  33. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  34. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Brain Plasticity Based Training for Focal Dystonia". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  35. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Auditory and somatosensory cortex". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  36. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Brain plasticity based training for Schizophrenia". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  37. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Brain plasticity rehabilitaton of visual cognition". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  38. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Functional organization of auditory somatosensory cortex". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  39. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Design Of Pediatric Cochlear Implants". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  40. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Functional Organization Of The Central Auditory System". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  41. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Sensory Disorders And Language Study Section". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  42. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Scala Tympani Electrode Arrays". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  43. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Development Of An Acoustic Prosthesis". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  44. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Develop Electrodes For Auditory Prosthesis". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  45. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Functional Organization Of The Auditory System". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  46. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Develop Multichannel Electrodes For Auditory Prosthesisunctional Organization Of The Auditory System". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  47. "ResearchCrossroads Research Grant Studies On Organization Of Central Auditory System". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  48. "Michael M. Merzenich – Patents & Inventors". FreshContext LLC/Freshpatents.com. 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  49. "Visual emphasis for cognitive training exercises". Patent #20080084427. FreshContext LLC/Freshpatents.com. 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  50. "merzenich – PubMed Results". PubMed. U.S. National Library of Medicine. 2003. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  51. Merzenich, Dr. Michael (2013). Soft-wired : how the new science of brain plasticity can change your life (2nd ed.). San Francisco, Calif.: Parnassus Pub. ISBN 978-0989432825. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  52. Ellison, Katherine (May 21, 2007). "Video Games vs. the Aging Brain Aging". DISCOVER Magazine. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
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