Sergei Yakushin, PhD

Research interests:

My research career began when I graduated from Moscow State University in 1985. Over the next six years, I worked for the Russian Space program at the Institute of BioMedical Problems (IMBP, Moscow, Russia) in the department Neurophysiology headed by Dr. Inessa B Kozlovskaya. In 1991, I was invited to come to the United States to work on a NASA project in Dr. Cohen’s laboratory at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. From that time, I worked with Drs. Cohen, Raphan Gizzi, Reisine, and Dai on various projects.

My research interests are the adaptation and spatial orientation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). While in Russia, it was angular VOR adaptation to Space flights (1985-1991). While I was a member of Dr. Cohen’s lab, it was angular VOR adaptation to specific damage of the vestibular periphery, such as individual semicircular canal plugging and vestibular nerves section (1991-2005). As an independent investigator at Mount Sinai, I studied how the orientation of gravity interacts with angular VOR adaptation (2000-2012). Over the past two years I have been working with Dr. Dai on an experimental treatment for patients suffering from Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS) (2014-present). It is likely that MdDS is caused by the adaptation of the VOR to complex vestibular stimulus experienced by patients while traveling. Thus, over my entire career, I have been interested in the various aspects of contextual learning of vestibulo-ocular reflex.

Over the last 3 years, I also collaborate with Drs. Bernard Cohen and Giorgio P. Martinelli at the department of Neurology on a project to study the vestibular causes of vasovagal syncope.