Neural basis of neuro-psychiatric disorders, Brain-Machine Imterfaces, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Cognitive Neuroscience, Neurofeedback

Theses Supervised

a) Undergraduate students at the Medicine School, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

Project: “Family relationships and mental health: Domestic violence as predictor for Major Depression”. Grant: “Research project for Residents”, Medicine School, PUC
Student:
- Luis Ignacio Álvarez Gómez 6 grade, Medicine (first and second semester 2014)

Project: “Modulating factors and impact of domestic violence on physical and mental health/ Factores moduladores e impacto de la violencia de género en la salud física y mental”.
Grant: “Interdepartmental projects”, Medicine School, PUC.
Students:
- María Ignacia Morales Vergara, 5 grade Medicine (first semester 2015)
- Saúl Gómez, 7 grade (first and second semester 2015)
- Franco Scheel Lopetegui, 7 grade (first semester 2015)
- Miguel-Ángel Farías Marambio, 7 grade (first semester 2015)

b) Postgraduate students at the Psychiatry Residence, Medicine School, PUC

- Dr Lucas Gutiérrez (2015)
Project: “Modulating factors and impact of domestic violence on physical and mental health/ Factores moduladores e impacto de la violencia de género en la salud física y mental”
Grant: “Interdepartmental projects”, Medicine School, PUC

- Dr Tomás León (2013)
Project: “Family relationships and mental health: Domestic violence as predictor for Major Depression”.
Grant: “Research project for Residents”, Medicine School, PUC

c) Direction of Master Thesis

Master Student: Pradyumna Sepúlveda
Program: School of Engineering
Institution: PUC de Chile
Grade. Magister en Ciencias de Ingeniería, Escuela de Ingeniería, PUC.
Started: August 2014
Date of thesis: December 2015
Title of the thesis: "How feedback, motor imagery and reward influence brain self-regulation using real time FMRI"

d) Direction of Doctoral Theses
1. PhD: Korhan Buyukturkoglu
Program: Graduate School of Neural & Behavioural Sciences/ International Max Planck Research School.
Institution: University of Tuebingen, Germany.
Grade: PhD in Neurosciences
Title of the thesis: "Self-regulation of Anterior Insula using Real-time fMRI and Behavioral Effects in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder"
Date of thesis: 26 -09-2014

2. PhD (c): Jaime Pereira (starting in August 2015)
Program: Doctoral Program in Neurosciences
Institution: Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences, PUC.

3. PhD (c) Andrea Sanchez Cardozo (starting in August 2017)
PProgram: Doctoral Program in Neurosciences
Institution: Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences, PUC.

e) Postdoctoral students under Sponsoring

1. Principal Investigator: Dr. Patricia Vargas Chocano
Sponsor: Sergio Ruiz
Grant: Postdoctoral Fondecyt, 2015
Title “Auto-regulacion de la actividad de las areas sensoriomotrices y su repercusion en la function motriz de individuos sanos y de pacientes victimas de un accidente vascular cerebral”
Award: 71.000.000 CLP.
Institution: PUC

2. Principal Investigator: Mohit Rana
Sponsor: Sergio Ruiz
Grant: Postdoctoral Fondecyt, 2016
Title: “Novel control of nicotine addiction using fMRI and EEG neurofeedback of the insular cortex”.
Institution: PUC

f) Member of PhD Thesis Comitte

-Part of the thesis committee of PhD candidate Mario Villena-González: Doctorado en Neurociencias PUC. “Differential allocation of attentional resources during mind wandering”. Started in July, 2014.

- Part of the thesis committee of PhD candidate Leonie Kausell: Doctorado en Neurociencias PUC. “Functional and structural neural correlates of attention and memory during bimodal (auditory/visual) stimuli in children who play a musical instrument”. Started in August, 2015

-Part of the thesis committee (president) of PhD candidate Felipe Eduardo Rojas Thomas: Doctorado en Neurosciencias PUC. Thesis title: “Effect of acute psychosocial stress on auditory and visual processing”. Started in July, 2016

-Part of the thesis committee of PhD candidate Germán Campos: Doctorado en Neurociencias PUC.. “Neural signatures of modified declarative memories as result of reconsolidation process”. Thesis project approval: 19/08/2015.

-Number of Congress Presentations since 2011: 64 (sixty four)
(Posters and Oral Presentations)

-2011 - 2011: Participation as project evaluator of the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FONDECYT), presented to the 2011 Regular Competition.

-2011 Apr - 2011 Apr: Appearance in the newspapper. "El Mercurio". Science and Technology Section April 14, page A17

-2011 Apr - 2011 Apr: Organization of the visits of professors Niels Birbaumer and Ranganatha Sitaram (from the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Tübingen, Germany) to the 5th Conference of the Department of Psychiatry, which included dissemination in the local press El Mercurio, April 14, 2011) and intra UC (Revista Interconsulta, http://contacto.med.puc.cl/interconsulta/interconsulta.html

-2012 Dec - 2012 Dec: Appearance in the middle of communication. Letter to the Director, El Mercurio, December 27, 2012.

-2012 Sep - 2015 Aug: Research Fellow of the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology at the University of Tuebingen, Germany: Collaborator as international researcher.

-2013 Jul - 2013 Jul: Appearance in internal communication PUC. Interconsulta Magazine, July 2013 http://medicina.uc.cl/julio-2013/dr-sergio-ruiz-publica-articulo-en-la-revista-trends-in-cognitive-science

-2013 Dec - 2013 Dec: Participation as invited speaker at the First Basque - Chilean Biomedical Research Meeting, 2-3 December, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Organizer of the guest speaker Dr. Ander Ramos-Murguialday (Fatronik-TECNALIA Technology, Health Technologies Department, Foundation, San Sebastian, Spain).

-2013 June - 2013 June: Appearance in newspapper. El Mercurio. Life, Science and Technology Section, Monday, June 3, page A12

-2013 Oct - 2013 Oct: Guest Exhibitor. Symposium "Difficulties in the interface of basic research to the clinic", LXVIII Congress of Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery of Chilean Society, Viña del Mar, October 2013.

-2014 Nov - 2014 Nov: Invited exhibitor of the First Seminar on Fundamentals of Psychiatry, organized by the Scientific Academy of Medical Students of the PUC, 20-21 November 2014.

-2015 Nov - 2015 Dec: Participation as invited speaker at the Third Basque - Chilean Biomedical Research Meeting, Nov 30 - Dec 1, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

-2015 Sep - 2015 Sep: Reviwer Panelist at the "U21 Health Sciences Doctoral Forum: A paper is more than great results". Forum is part of the "U21 Science Group Annual Meeting September 21-25, 2015, PUC"

-2016 Apr - 2016 Apr: Guest Speaker at the III Chilean Congress of Neuroradiology at the SCNR, Santiago, Chile, 25 April 2016. Brain Machine Interfaces based on Neuroimagenes: National Experience and future directions.

-2017 May - 2017 May: Guest Speaker at the "XXVII Conference on Psychiatry", University of Valparaiso, May 12, 2017

-2017 Nov - 2017 Nov: Vice-Chairman of the Conference Program Committee "Real-Time Functional Imaging and Neurofeedback 2017" to be held Nov 29-Dec 1, 2017, Nara, Japan. Http://rtfin2017.atr.jp/