A. R. Jac Fredo

Dr. Jac Fredo did his undergraduate in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Anna University during 2004- 2008. He did first project study in 2007, as part of his undergraduate degree under Dr. Amalin Prince, BITS Pilani, K.K.Birla Goa Campus, India. This group worked with biomedical signal and image processing methods in application to FPGA devices. During this project work, he developed various filter methods to pre-process the vibro-arthrographic (VAG) signals and he got experience in biomedical signal processing, and coding platform like Labview. Dr. Jac started his research career in 2009 as a Masters student working under Dr. S. Ramakrishnan at Department of Instrumentation Engineering, Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai, India. This group worked with different biomedical signal and image processing, pattern recognition, and machine learning algorithms in application to biomedical instrumentation. Dr. Jac participated in developing test systems for human brain evoked auditory signals using Virtual Audiometer and got experience in pattern recognition and machine learning algorithms, and coding platform like Rstudio. The outcome of the study was published in a conference held in Pune, India. Since 2010, Dr. Jac joined as a Junior Research Fellow in Neuro-informatics with the grant from University Grant Commission, Department of Science and Technology, India working under Dr. G. Kavitha, Anna University, Chennai, India and started to work on his Ph.D. thesis. This group worked in close collaboration with Dr. S. Ramakrishnan at the Non-Invasive Imaging and Diagnostics Laboratory, Biomedical Division, Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India, on several projects of brain imaging. Dr. Jac’s Ph.D. thesis was devoted to the Neuro-informatics study of identifying structural brain based autistic traits in autism using sMRI, image processing and pattern recognition methods. Dr. Jac was trained in advanced image processing algorithms, brain imaging toolboxes such BSE, BET, Brain suite, Neuron, SPM8, and coding platform like Matlab during this tenure. Dr. Jac and his colleagues found that subcortical regions of brain can serve as an effective biomarker for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and proved the presence of structural brain based autistic traits in autism. Dr. Jac also assisted in Electronics Labs and teaches basic Matlab for the students of Faculty of Electronics Engineering (Anna University) during this tenure. He has published 6 journals and 5 conference publications as part of his Ph.D thesis. Further, Dr. Jac travelled to Germany, The Netherlands, and United States of America through different travel grants and participated in workshops, presented research outcomes in conferences.

After his Ph.D. in Neuro-informatics in 2015, Dr. Jac joined as a Project Associate in the same Lab under Dr. S. Ramakrishnan and was in charge for the projects in different fields including Brain imaging and EMG processing. He served in organizational committee for the conferences hosted by the lab during this tenure. He obtained skills in planning in vitro and in ​vivo experiments, statistical analysis, writing grant proposals, articles, patents, and working in an interdisciplinary team. Later, Dr. Jac joined as an Assistant Professor (Senior Grade) in 2016 at VIT University, Vellore, India and delivered courses on Bio-Medical Instrumentation, Sensors, Medical Physics and Rstudio for students. Further, Dr. Jac supervised three undergraduate projects, which have improved his skills in mentoring and support in career objectives. He undergone research in VAG signals, developed machine learning model for the diagnosis of articular diseases and published the outcome in a journal. Further, he developed a process pipeline to identify the damages in composite materials using digital images and published in 4 leading journals sooner and later. Dr. Jac was funded grant by Indo-Us Science and Technology Forum/ Science Engineering Research Board, India to pursue Post-Doctoral studies under Prof. Ralph Axel Mueller at Brain Development Imaging Lab, San Diego State University, USA in 2016. This group is pioneer in autism spectrum disorder research using behavioural, clinical measures, multi-model imaging modalities like sMRI, fMRI, DTI and EEG. He worked in two projects including machine learning models for autism using resting-state fMRI and identification of subtypes in autism using multi-model imaging methods. During this tenure, Dr. Jac was trained in resting-state fMRI processing, DTI processing and training in brain imaging tool boxes like FSL, AFNI, Freesurfer, coding in bash script and working on High Performance Computing through remote server. Based on his studies, Dr. Jac has published two papers (1 journal and 1 conference) related to machine learning models for autism. In 2018, Dr. Jac joined as a Research Fellow in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore under the supervision of Prof. Justin Dauwels. The lab is pioneer in developing advanced brain connectivity estimation methods and machine learning algorithms in application to brain development research. He got opportunity to work in brain connectivity analysis methods in collaboration with Prof. Georg Langs, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. The outcomes of this research study are published in a journal and a conference poster. During this tenure, Dr. Jac acquired a strong background in neuro-informatics (brain network connectivity estimation methods), machine learning (deep learning), high complexity algorithms, and coding platforms like python.

In the mid of 2020, Dr. Jac got Advanced Research Opportunities (AROP) Scholarship to wok under Dr. Kerstin Konrad, Clinics & Institute, Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatic, and Psychotherapy of childhood and adolescents in RWTH Aachen, Germany. This group work in autism traits, neural mechanism, child development, gender variation, behavioural dimensions, neuroimaging, functional brain connectivity, and diagnostic classification of neuro developmental disorders. Recently, Dr. Jac joined as an Assistant Professor in the School of Bio-Medical Engineering in IIT (BHU), Varanasi, India.