Acquisition of a magnetic resonance imaging system to assess brain plasticity

在国家科学基金会主要研究仪器奖的支持下，罗切斯特大学的Richard Aslin博士和他的同事将建立罗切斯特脑成像中心（RCBI）。 这个新中心的总体目标是评估成人和儿童大脑的可塑性，因为它适应改变和不同的经验。 一种类型的改变是单一模态中感觉输入的损失（例如，因失明或耳聋而丧失视力或听力）。 罗切斯特先前的研究表明，使用手语的先天性失聪者使用的是通常用于口语的大脑部分（左半球），尽管依赖于视觉而不是听觉模态。 聋人对周边视野中的运动模式也有更大的敏感性，因为他们更依赖于视觉模态中传递的手语输入。 大脑可塑性的这些模式是早期发育期间改变的感觉输入的结果，并且对大脑补偿剥夺和损伤的能力具有重要意义，前提是它在早期发育期间有时间适应这些不寻常的环境。 类似的可塑性机制可能存在于成年人中，因为他们学习一项新任务或补偿脑损伤。 罗切斯特小组将使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）来研究成人、儿童和非人类灵长类动物大脑可塑性的长期（发育）和短期方面。 这项研究将为学习和可塑性的神经机制以及大脑适应新体验的关键提供重要见解。与认知科学家和神经科学家团队以及磁共振物理学家和图像处理工程师合作，Aslin博士将监督购买，安装，以及3特斯拉（T）功能磁共振成像系统的操作，该系统旨在测量参与者执行各种任务时大脑局部区域血氧水平的微观变化。 该系统是人脑成像领域的最新技术，将为来自罗切斯特大学和康奈尔大学（距离罗切斯特90英里）的30多名研究人员提供探索人脑可塑性和自然剥夺、损伤或疾病后功能恢复的各种问题的能力。 这个新中心的一个重要特点是，有一个由物理学家和工程师组成的团队，他们将开发功能性磁共振成像的新方法，以揭示有关大脑功能和可视化的更精细的细节。 它将为罗切斯特的一组研究人员提供一流的非侵入性脑成像设施，这些研究人员已经证明了他们在认知神经科学方面进行尖端研究的能力。 RCBI还将在培养未来科学家方面发挥重要作用，积极吸收罗切斯特大学和康奈尔大学的研究生和本科生以及纽约州立大学州立大学的本科生（非博士生）参加。位于距罗切斯特30英里的格兰特学院）进行最先进的脑成像研究。 这个新的中心提供了一个很好的工具来教授功能磁共振成像的原理给新一代的学生，他们将成为认知神经科学领域的领导者。

With support from a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation award, Dr. Richard Aslin and his colleagues at the University of Rochester will establish the Rochester Center for Brain Imaging (RCBI). The overall goal of this new center is to assess the plasticity of the adult and child brain as it adapts to altered and varied experiences. One type of alteration is the loss of sensory input in a single modality (e.g., the loss of vision or hearing because of blindness or deafness). Previous research at Rochester has shown that congenitally deaf individuals who use sign language do so with the same parts of the brain (the left hemisphere) that are usually used for spoken language, despite relying on the visual rather than the auditory modality. Deaf individuals also have greater sensitivity to patterns of movement in the peripheral visual field because they rely more on signed language inputs delivered in the visual modality. These patterns of brain plasticity are the result of altered sensory input during early development and have important implications for the brain's ability to compensate for deprivation and injury, provided that it has time during early development to adapt to these unusual circumstances. Similar mechanisms of plasticity may be present in adults as they learn a new task or compensate for brain injury. The Rochester group will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study both long-term (developmental) and short-term aspects of brain plasticity in adults, children, and non-human primates. The research will provide important insights into the neural mechanisms of learning and plasticity and the keys to the brain's ability to adapt to novel experiences.Working with a team of cognitive scientists and neuroscientists, as well as magnetic resonance physicists and image processing engineers, Dr. Aslin will supervise the purchase, installation, and operation of a 3 tesla (T) fMRI system designed to measure the microscopic changes in blood oxygen level that occur in localized regions of the brain as participants perform a variety of tasks. This system, which is state-of-the-art in the field of human brain imaging, will provide a group of over 30 researchers from the University of Rochester and Cornell University (90 miles from Rochester) with the capability to explore a variety of issues in human brain plasticity and recovery of function after natural deprivation, injury, or disease. A key feature of the new center is a team of physicists and engineers who will develop new ways for fMRI to reveal even more fine-grained details about the functioning and visualization of the brain.This project is important for several reasons. It will provide a first-class facility for non-invasive brain imaging to a group of researchers at Rochester who have already demonstrated their ability to conduct cutting-edge research in cognitive neuroscience. The RCBI will also play a significant role in the training of future scientists by actively involving graduate and undergraduates students from the University of Rochester and Cornell University, as well as undergaduates from the State University of New York at Geneseo (a non-Ph.D.-granting college located 30 miles from Rochester) in state-of-the-art brain imaging research. The new center provides an excellent vehicle to teach the principles of fMRI to a new generation of students who will become leaders in the field of cognitive neuroscience.