Florin V. Chirila, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor 
Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute
Email: fchirila@brni.org
Phone: 304-293-8404
Fax: 304-293-7536

Education:

Ph.D. (Physics) West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

Research Interests:

Dr. Chirila’s background is in physics, nonlinear dynamics, and neuroscience. His research interest is to use quantitative and interdisciplinary approaches to solve neuroscience problems. Alzheimer’s disease is attacking one of the most complex and mysterious parts of the human body, the central nervous system. However, Alzheimer’s disease is mapped in the peripheral systems, such as skin fibroblast, where biochemical imbalances were observed.

Dr. Chirila’s research focus is to find a direct and easy method to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease using peripheral skin fibroblasts and nonlinear dynamics. More specifically, he is interested in measures of skin fibroblasts networks as biological markers for prediction of Alzheimer’s disease prior to symptomatic diagnosis. During the last few months he and other scientists at BRNI, have developed a method to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease using peripheral skin fibroblasts based on complexity of fibroblast networks measured with fractal dimension and lacunarity. This complexity therefore, offers a new opportunity to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease patients with a minimally invasive procedure. Dr. Chirila hopes to expand this research hypothesis to identify how other neurodegenerative disorders such as Frontotemporal Dementia, Parkinson's disease or Huntington's Chorea, are mapped in the peripheral systems.

Areas of Expertise:

Nonlinear Dynamics, Electrophysiology, Computational models.

Selected Publications:

G. A. Spirou, F. V. Chirila, H. von Gersdorff and P. B. Manis, '' Neuroscience 154(1), 171-185 (2008). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18485608

F. V. Chirila, K. C. Rowland, J. M. Thompson, and G. A. Spirou,  '' J. Physiol. 584 (1), 167-190 (2007). http://jp.physoc.org/cgi/content/full/584/1/167

M. Tinsley, J. Cui, F. V. Chirila, A. Taylor, S. Zhong, and K. Showalter, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 038306 (2005). http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PRLTAO000095000003038306000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes

T. Sakurai, E. Mihaliuk, F. V. Chirila, and K. Showalter, " Science 296, 2009-2012 (2002).

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/296/5575/2009 
 

E. Mihaliuk, T. Sakurai, F. V. Chirila, and K. Showalter, Phys. Rev. E 65 (6-1) (2002).

http://prola.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v65/i6/e065602

Selected Presentations:

F. V. Chirila, ``Understanding and Controlling Neural Systems,'' Wilkes University, Pennsylvania, Department of Physics and Engineering, March 10 (2009).

F. V. Chirila, Nonlinear Properties of Neural Systems,''  Denver University, Colorado, Department of Physics and Astronomy, January 12 (2009).

F. V. Chirila and G. A. Spirou, ``Logistic Dynamics of Medial Superior Olive Neurons,'' Gordon Research Conference on Nonlinear Science, Colby College Waterville, Maine, June 24-29 (2007).``

F. V. Chirila, K. C. Rowland, J. M. Thompson, and G. A. Spirou, ``Development of Temporal Delayed Sensitivity In MSO Neurons,'' Grand Challenges in Neural Computation, Measurements, Analysis, & Modeling of Cellular and Network Dynamics, Santa Fe, New Mexico, February 18-21 (2007).

 
F. V. Chirila, K. C. Rowland, J. M. Thompson, J. L. Cyr, and G. A. Spirou, ``Development of Gerbil Medial Superior Olive: Integration of Temporally Delayed Excitation and Inhibition at Physiological Temperature,'' San Diego, California, November 3-7 (2007)