Dr. Evrard completed his Doctorate in Sciences at the University of Liège,  Belgium, with postdocs at Boston University, the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen. He holds his main senior position at the International Center for Primate Brain Research in Shanghai, and additional positions at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in New York, USA, and the Center for Integrative Neuroscience at the University of Tübingen in Germany. His research concentrates on the peripheral and central nervous pathways of interoception and autonomic control in the context of complex behaviors, involving the co-regulation of brain and bodily states, with implications for the emergence of subjective feelings in humans.

The central integration of physiological bodily states, or interoception, shapes emotional and cognitive processes underlying perceptual awareness and decision-making. A phylogenetically-novel, primate-specific afferent pathway terminating primarily in the insula (and cingula) interfaces interoception with autonomic efferent and supramodal functional networks substantiating subjective feelings. An experimental program is needed to examine the organization of this ‘body-brain axis’ and its role in mental health. The overarching aim of our research is to combine a set of structural (architectonics, tract-tracing) and functional (electrophysiology, neuroimaging, optogenetics) methods in both the central and peripheral nervous system (CNS and PNS) in order to further examine the central interoceptive representation and autonomic regulation of bodily states, in relation to central brain states and functions. This research is done using neuroanatomy as a gold standard. Our lab is in addition involved in major neuroanatomical works, including the publication of brain atlases and the teaching of neuroanatomy to graduate students.

1. Hartig R, Karimi A, Evrard HC (2022) Interconnected sub-networks of the macaque monkey gustatory connectome. Frontiers in Neuroscience [proofing]. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.818800 

2. PRIME-DRE Global Collaboration Workshop and Consortium (2022) Towards next generation primate neuroscience: a collaboration-based strategic plan for integrative neuroimaging. Neuron, 110:16-20. 

3. Hartig R, Glen D, Jung B, Logothetis NK, Paxinos G, Garza-Villarreal EA, Messinger A, and Evrard HC (2021) Subcortical Atlas of the Rhesus Macaque (SARM) for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. NeuroImage, 235:117996. 

4. Ramirez J, Besserve M, Evrard HC, Oeltermann A, Logothetis NK (2021) Coupling of Hippocampal Theta and Ripples with Pontogeniculooccipital Waves. Nature, 588:96-102. 

5. Evrard HC (2019) The organization of the primate insular cortex. Front Neuroanat. 13. 

6. Evrard H.C. (2018) Von Economo and fork neurons in the monkey insula, implications for evolution of cognition. Curr Opinion Behav Sci 21:182-190.

7. Klein C., Evrard H.C., Logothetis N.K., Schmid M. (2016) Cell-targeted optogenetics and electrical microstimulation reveal the primate koniocellular projection to supragranular visual cortex. Neuron. 90(1):143-51. 

8. Fischer D.B., Boes A., Demertzi A., Evrard H.C., Laureys S., Edlow B., Saper C.B., Pascual-Leone A., Fox M.D., Geerling J. (2016) A human brain network linking arousal to awareness. Neurology 87:2427–34.

9. Evrard HC, Logothetis NK, Craig AD (2014) Modular architectonic organization of the insular cortex in the macaque monkey. J Comp Neurol 522: 64–97. 

10. Evrard H.C., Forro T. and Logothetis N.K. (2012) Von Economo neurons in the anterior insula of the macaque monkey. Neuron 74:482-9.

11. Logothetis N.K., Eschenko O, Murayama, Y, Augath, M, Steudel, T, Evrard, H.C., Besserve, M, and Oeltermann, A. (2012) Hippocampal-neocortical interaction occurs during periods of subcortical activity suppression. Nature 491:547–53.