Dr. Samu Taulu is an Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Washington and director of the I-LABS MEG Brain Imaging Center.
Dr. Taulu received his M.Sc. in Finland at the department of Technical Physics at Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) in 2000. He earned his Ph.D. in the field of Applied Mathematics in Technical Physics from the HUT in 2008.
Dr. Taulu began his career at the Low Temperature Laboratory at HUT working on signal processing and calibration methods of MEG instrumentation. Dr. Taulu received his Ph.D. degree while working for the Finnish company manufacturing the MEG devices, Neuromag Ltd. (presently Elekta Oy), focusing primarily on physics-related aspects of MEG instrumentation and signal processing as part of the research and development team. After completing his PhD, Dr. Taulu also worked in project management for MEG applications and software.
The main methods developed by Dr. Taulu and his colleagues have been motivated by the challenges of signal processing of the infant MEG measurements that were carried out in collaboration between I-LABS and BioMag laboratory of Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland, in 2001. These methods have since then been further developed through international collaboration with medical doctors, neuroscientists, and physicists.
As the director of I-LABS Brain Imaging Center, Dr. Taulu, together with the MEG Team, is aiming to continue developing methods for optimized MEG data quality and to provide strong support for the MEG-based research at I-LABS.
Current Position
Associate Professor of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Director, I-LABS MEG Brain Imaging Center, University of Washington, Seattle USA
Education
Master of Science in Technology, Department of Technical Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland (Apr. 2000)
Doctor of Science (Tech.), Department of Technical Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland (Oct. 2008)
Main Previous Professional Appointments
Course Assistant at the Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology (1997)
Research Assistant at the Low Temperature Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology (1997-1998)
Researcher at the Low Temperature Laboratory and Master's thesis worker for Neuromag Oy (1998-2000)
Method development engineer, Neuromag Oy Researcher, Elekta Neuromag Oy (2000-2006)
Senior Researcher, Elekta Oy
(2009-2012) Senior Clinical Applications Scientist and Project Manager, Elekta Oy (2012-2014)
Research funding
NIH bridge funding for year 2018 on project “Improved Spatial Resolution in Magnetoencephalography with an Optically Pumped Magnetometer Array” in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories in the role of a co-PI.
NIH R01 funding on project “Scalable software for distributed processing and visualization of large multi-site MEG/EEG datasets” in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard University in the role of a co-PI.
NIH U01 funding for years 2019-2024 on project “Wearable Brain Imaging System” in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories in the role of a co-PI.
Awards
Excellence Award at the 2005 MEG Applications Conference (Xylocastro, Greece)
Outstanding Reviewer Award, Journal of Neuroscience Methods, Nov. 2015.
Patents
1. Suppression of artifacts in non-invasive multichannel electromagnetic recordings using robust spatiotemporal signal space projections, provisional patent submitted in August of 2018.
2. Reducing sensor noise in multichannel arrays using oversampled temporal projection and associated systems and methods” The patent became public on November 30, 2017.
3. Method for adjusting interference signal space in bio-magnetic field measurements (priority date 2010-07-06)
4. Method for designing coils systems for generation of magnetic fields of desired geometry, a magnetic resonance imaging or magnetoencephalography apparuts with a coil assembly and a computer program (priority date 2010-03-26)
5. Method for separating multichannel signals produced by AC and DC sources from one another (priority date 2004-01-19)
6. Method for interference suppression in a measuring device (priority date 2004-02-13)
7. Analysis of multi-channel measurement data using orthogonal virtual channels (priority date
2007-01-03)
8. Method and device for interference suppression in electromagnetic multi-channel measurement
(priority date 2005-04-28)
9. Method and system for processing a multi-channel measurement of magnetic fields (priority date
2003-03-14)
10. Method and device for using a multi-channel measurement signal in determining the current
distribution of an object (priority date 2003-09-26)
11. Determining a position of objects in a predetermined coordinate system (priority date 2001-03-19)
Teaching
Teacher at the introductory and advanced customer training courses of Elekta Oy
Guest lecturer at several graduate-level physics courses at Helsinki University
Instructor of the Master’s thesis of Liisa Helle (completed in 2009), Department of Technical Physics, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland.
Instructor of the doctoral thesis of Dr. Jussi Nurminen (completed in 2014), Department of Technical Physics, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland.
Currently instructor of the doctoral thesis of M.Sc. Liisa Helle
Instructor of UW Physics graduate students Zachary Bednarke and Wanjin Yao.
Currently instructor of 6 UW Physics undergraduate students
Instructor of the undergraduate course PHYS122 (Electromagnetism) in the fall quarter of 2018 and winter quarter of 2019 at the University of Washington
Instructor of PHYS 427 / 576 (Applications of Physics) in the spring quarter of 2020 at the University of Washington
Mittag M, Larson E, Clarke M, Taulu S, Kuhl P, "Auditory deficits in infants at risk of dyslexia during a linguistic sensitive period predict future language", submitted.
Helle L, Nenonen J, Larson E, Parkkonen L, Simola J, Taulu S, "Extended Signal Space Separation method for improved interference suppression in MEG", submitted.
Taulu S, Larson E, "Unified expression of quasi-static electromagnetic field: Demonstration with MEG and EEG signals", accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions of Biomedical Engineering.
Clarke M, Larson E, Tavabi K, Taulu S, "Effectively combining temporal noise suppression methods in magnetoencephalography", accepted for publication in Journal of Neuroscience Methods.
Bourguignon M, Molinaro N, Lizarazu M, Taulu S, Jousmäki V, Lallier M, Carreiras M, De Tiege X, "Neocortical activity tracks syllable and phrasal structure of self-produced speech during reading aloud", accepted for publication in Neuroimage.
Borna A, Carter T, Colombo A, Jau Y-Y, McKay J, Weisend M, Taulu S, Stephen J, Schwindt P, "Non-invasive Functional-Brain-Imaging with an OPM-based Magnetoencephalography System", PLOS ONE, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227684. 2020.
Luoma J, Pekkonen E, Airaksinen K, Helle L, Nurminen J, Taulu S, Mäkelä, "Spontaneous sensorimotor cortical activity is suppressed by deep brain stimulation in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease", Neuroscience Letters. 2018; 683:48-53.
Chang Y-C, Khan S, Taulu S, Kuperberg G, Brown E, Hämäläinen M, Temereanca S, "Left-lateralized contributions of saccades to cortical activity during a one-back word recognition task", Frontiers in Neural Circuits. May 16 2018.
Meltzoff A, Ramirez R, Saby J, Larson E, Taulu S, Marshall P, "Infant brain responses to felt and observed touch of hands and feet: an MEG study", Developmental Science. Jan 14 2018.
Jas M, Leppäkangas J, Engemann D, Larson E, Taulu S, Hämäläinen M, Gramfort A, "A reproducible MEG/EEG group study with the MNE software: recommendations, quality assessments, and good practices", Frontiers in neuroscience. 2018; 12 530.
Hari R, Baillet S, Barnes G, Burgess R, Forss N, Gross J, Hämäläinen M, Jensen O, Kakigi R, Mauguière F, Nakasatio N, Puce A, Romani GL, Schnitzler A, and Taulu S, "Practical guidelines for magnetoencephalography (MEG): Report of an IFCN committee", Clinical Neurophysiol. Accepted for publication in Clinical Neurophysiology.
Larson E, Taulu S. "Reducing Sensor Noise in Multichannel Arrays Using Oversampled Temporal Projection", IEEE Trans Biomed. Eng. 2018; 65(5): 1002-1013. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28783620 (DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2017.2734641) [Epub ahead of print]
van Klink N, van Rosmalen F, Nenonen J, Burnos S, Helle L, Taulu S, Furlong PL, Zijlmans M, Hillebrand A. "Automatic detection and visualization of MEG ripple oscillations in epilepsy", NeuroImage: Clinical. 2017; 15:689-701. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28702346 (DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.06.024)
Jha A, Litvak V, Taulu S, Thevathasan W, Hyam J, Foltynie T, Limousin P, Bogdanovic M, Zrinzo L, Green A, Aziz T, Friston K, Brown P. "Functional connectivity of the pedunculopontine nucleus and surrounding region in Parkinson's disease", Cereb Cortex. 2017; 27(1): 54-67. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28316456 (DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw340)
Larson E, Taulu S, "The importance of properly compensating for head movements during MEG acquisition across different age groups", Brain Topography. 2017; 30(2): 172-182. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27696246 (DOI: 10.1007/s10548-016-0523-1)
Ramirez FN, Ramirez R, Clarke M, Taulu S, Kuhl P. "Speech discrimination in 11-month-old bilingual and monolingual infants: a magnetoencephalography study", Dev Sci. 2016 Apr. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27041494 (DOI: 10.1111/desc.12427)
Rodin E, Taulu S, Funke M, Johnson M, Bornfleth H, Constantino T, "Magnetoencephalographic infraslow activity: A feasibility study", J. Clin. Neurophys. 2016; 33(4): pp 350-358. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26690547 (DOI: 10.1097/WNP.0000000000000246)
Airaksinen K, Lehti T, Nurminen J, Luoma J, Helle L, Taulu S, Pekkonen E, Makela JP, "Cortico-muscular coherence parallels coherence of postural tremor and MEG during static muscle contraction", Neurosci Lett., 2015 Aug 18;602:22-6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26116820 (DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2015.06.034)
Airaksinen K, Makela JP, Nurminen J, Luoma J, Taulu S, Ahonen A, Pekkonen E, "Cortico-muscular coherence in advanced Parkinson's disease with deep brain stimulation", Clin Neurophysiol. 2015 Apr; 126(4):748-55. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25218364 (DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2014.07.025)
Medvedovsky M, Nenonen J, Koptelova A, Butorina A, Paetau R, Makela J, Ahonen A, Simola J, Gazit T, Taulus S, "Virtual MEG Helmet: Computer Simulation of an Approach to Neuromagnetic Field Sampling", IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. 2015 Jan 19. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25616085 (DOI: 10.1109/JBHI.2015.2392785)
Bosseler A, Taulu S, Pihko E, Mäkelä J, Imada T, Ahonen A, Kuhl P, "Theta brain rhythms index perceptual narrowing in infant speech perception", Front. Psychol., 11 October 2013. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24130536 (DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00690)
Nurminen J, Taulu S, Nenonen J, Helle L, Simola J, Ahonen A, "Improving MEG performance with additional tangential sensors," IEEE Trans Biomed Eng, 60, 2559-2566, (2013). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23649129 (DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2013.2260541)
Nenonen J, Nurminen J, Kicic D, Bikmullina R, Lioumis P, Jousmäki V, Taulu S, Parkkonen L, Putaala M, and Kähkönen S, "Validation of head movement correction and spatiotemporal signal space separation in Magnetoencephalography", Clin. Neurophys., 123, 2180-2191, (2012). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22633918 (DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2012.03.080)
Airaksinen K, Butorina A, Pekkonen E, Nurminen J, Taulu S, Ahonen A, Schnitzler A, Mäkelä J, "Somatomotor mu rhythm amplitude correlates with rigidity during DBS in Parkinsonian patients", Clin. Neurophys., 123, 2010-2017, (2012). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22513261 (DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2012.03.004)
Medvedovsky M, Taulu S, Gaily E, Metsähonkala L, Mäkelä J, Ekstein D, Kipervasser S, Neufeld M, Kramer U, Blomstedt G, Fried I, Karppinen A, Veshchev I, Roivainen R, Ben-Zeev B, Goldberg-Stern H, Wilenius J, Paetau R, "Sensitivity and specificity of seizure-onset zone estimation by ictal magnetoencephalography", Epilepsia, 53, 1649-1657, (2012). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22780219 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2012.03574.x)
Airaksinen K, Mäkelä J, Taulu S, Ahonen A, Nurminen J, Schnitzler A, and Pekkonen E, "Effects of DBS on auditory and somatosensory processing in Parkinson's disease", Hum. Brain Mapp. 32, 1091-1099, (2011). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20645306 (DOI: 10.1002/hbm.21096)
Nurminen J, Taulu S, and Okada Y, "Improving the performance of the signal space separation method by comprehensive spatial sampling", Phys. Med. Biol., 55, 1491-1503 (2010). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20157231 (DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/55/5/015)
Guo C, Li X, Taulu S, Wang W, and Weber DJ, "Real-Time Robust Signal Space Separation for Magnetoencephalography", IEEE Trans Biomed. Eng., 57(8), 1856-1866 (2010). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20176529 (DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2010.2043358)
Song T, Cui L, Gaa K, Feffer L, Taulu S, Lee R, Huang M, "Signal space separation algorithm and its application on suppressing artifacts caused by vagus nerve stimulation for magnetoencephalography recordings", J Clin Neurophysiol 2009 Dec; 26(6):392-400. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19952563 (DOI: 10.1097/WNP.0b013e3181c29896)
Vrba J, Taulu S, Nenonen J, and Ahonen A, "Signal Space Separation Beamformer", Brain Topogr. 23, 128-133, (2010). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943101 (DOI: 10.1007/s10548-009-0120-7)
Medvedovsky M, Taulu S, Bikmullina R, Ahonen A, and Paetau R, "Fine tuning the correlation limit of spatio-temporal signal space separation for magnetoencephalography", J Neurosci Methods 177, 203-211, (2009). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18996412 (DOI:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2008.09.035)
Taulu S and Simola J, "Multipole-based coordinate representation of a magnetic multichannel signal and its application in source modeling". Report TKK-F-A-855. http://lib.tkk.fi/Diss/2008/isbn9789512295654/article1.pdf
Taulu S and Hari R: Removal of magnetoencephalographic artifacts with temporal signal-space separation: Demonstration with single-trial auditory-evoked responses. Hum Brain Mapp. 30(5):1524-34, (2009). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18661502 (DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20627)
Nurminen J, Taulu S, and Okada Y, "Effects of sensor calibration, balancing and parametrization on the signal space separation method", Phys. Med. Biol. 53(7), 1975-1987, (2008). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18354243 (DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/53/7/012)
Medvedovsky M., Taulu S., Bikmullina R., Paetau R., "Artifact and head movement compensation in MEG", Neurology, Neurophysiology and Neuroscience 2007:4 (October 29, 2007). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18066426
Imada T, Zhang Y, Cheour M, Taulu S, Ahonen A, and Kuhl P, "Infant speech perception activates Broca's area: a developmental magnetoencephalography study", Neuroreport, vol. 17, no. 10, 957-962 (2006). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16791084 (DOI: 10.1097/01.wnr.0000223387.51704.89)
Taulu S and Simola J, "Spatiotemporal signal space separation method for rejecting nearby interference in MEG measurements", Phys. Med. Biol., vol. 51, 1759-1768 (2006). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16552102 (DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/51/7/008)
Huotilainen M, Kujala A, Hotakainen M, Parkkonen L, Taulu S, Simola J, Nenonen J, Karjalainen M, and Näätänen R, "Short-term memory functions of the human fetus recorded with magnetoencephalography", NeuroReport, vol. 16(1), 81-84 (2005). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15618896
Taulu S, Simola J, and Kajola M, "Applications of the Signal Space Separation Method", IEEE Trans. Sign. Proc. vol. 53, No. 9. 3359-3372, 2005. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1495874/ (DOI: 10.1109/TSP.2005.853302 )
Taulu S and Kajola M, "Presentation of electromagnetic multichannel data: the signal space separation Method", J. Appl. Phys., vol. 97, No. 12, 124905 (10 pages), 2005. http://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.1935742 (DOI: 10.1063/1.1935742)
Taulu S, Simola J, Kajola M, "MEG Recordings of DC Fields Using the Signal Space Separation Method (SSS)", Neurol. Clin. Neurophysiol. 2004 Nov 30; 2004:35. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16012635
Cheour M, Imada T, Taulu S, Ahonen A, Salonen J, and Kuhl P, "Magnetoencephalography is feasible for infant assessment of auditory discrimination", Experimental Neurology, vol. 190, 44-51 (2004). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15498541 (DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2004.06.030)
Taulu S, Kajola M, and Simola J, "Suppression of Interference and Artifacts by the Signal Space Separation Method", Brain Topography, vol. 16, 269-275 (2004). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15379226
Taulu S, Kajola M, Simola J, "The Signal Space Separation Method", Biomed. Tech., vol. 48, 246-249 (2004).
Pihko E, Lauronen L, Wikström H, Taulu S, Nurminen J, Kivitie-Kallio S, and Okada Y, "Somatosensory evoked potentials and magnetic fields elicited by tactile stimulation of the hand during active and quiet sleep in newborns", Clin. Neurophysiol., vol. 115, 448-455 (2004). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14744587 (DOI: 10.1016/S1388-2457(03)00349-3)
Uutela K, Taulu S, and Hämäläinen M, "Detecting and Correcting for Head Movements in Neuromagnetic Measurements", NeuroImage, vol. 14, 1424-1431 (2001). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11707098 (DOI: 10.1006/nimg.2001.0915)
