School of Medicine
Showing 731-740 of 1,316 Results
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Branimir I. Sikic, M. D.
Professor of Medicine (Oncology), Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch Interests: cancer pharmacology, mechanisms of resistance to anticancer drugs, regulation and function of MDR1 and tubulin genes, CD47 as a target for activation of anticancer macrophases, Phase I trials of new drugs, gene expression profiling of cancers
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Pilleriin Sikka
Postdoctoral Scholar, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWhat makes certain experiences transformative, and how can we harness them to support resilience and mental health? I explore this question by studying emotions across various states of consciousness—waking, dreaming, anesthesia, psychedelics, and meditation. With a background in psychology, neuroscience, and anesthesiology, I bring together methods that are rarely combined: daily diaries and surveys, language and narrative analysis, neurophysiological recordings, lab experiments, and clinical trials. My work has three main aims: (1) to understand how affective experiences unfold across states; (2) to test whether these experiences can be deliberately shaped to support mental health; and (3) to identify the mechanisms that make them transformative. This interdisciplinary approach has led to the first controlled studies of anesthesia-induced dreams for trauma, new insights into peace of mind and emotion regulation, and cross-state comparisons showing how affective experiences in altered states can foster resilience. My long-term goal is to develop a new frontier in affective science: the study of how transformative experiences across different states of mind can improve well-being.
