CAREER: Mapping deep brain functions with super-resolution photoacoustic imaging

调节氧气供应是大脑正常运作的一项关键任务。氧气供应和需求之间的不匹配会导致严重的损伤和大脑功能障碍，比如阿尔茨海默病。这个CAREER项目旨在开发一套新的成像技术和数据科学工具，用于绘制大脑中的氧代谢，具有高清晰度和准确性。这个项目的结果将允许在单个毛细血管的规模上研究大脑的功能。从该项目中产生的技术和知识将产生培训材料，可以教育下一代神经工程师，并激励STEM领域的各种学生。关于大脑如何在各种生理和病理条件下调节其血流动力学功能，我们仍然知之甚少。造成这种知识差距的一个主要原因是缺乏能够提供高空间分辨率的无创脑血流动力学测量的技术。这个CAREER项目旨在开发一种超分辨率光声断层成像方法，该方法可以在整个脑容量中以一致的高分辨率成像小鼠大脑的血流动力学功能。新技术将报告脑深部血氧合、血流速度和氧代谢的绝对值。该项目的成果将为广泛的神经科学界在精细尺度上产生急需的关于大脑的新知识。这一结果对于研究不同生理条件下脑功能的时空异质性，以及理解和治疗各种脑疾病引起的脑功能损伤具有重要意义。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Regulating the oxygen supply is a key task of a normally functioning brain. A mismatch between oxygen supply and demand can lead to serious injury and brain dysfunction, such as in Alzheimer’s disease. This CAREER project aims to develop a new set of imaging technologies and data science tools for mapping the oxygen metabolism in the brain, with high clarity and accuracy. The results of this project will allow the study of the brain’s functions at the scale of a single capillary. The technology and knowledge generated from this project will result in training materials that can educate the next generation of neural engineers and inspire a diverse array of students in the STEM fields.Much is still unknown about how the brain regulates its hemodynamic functions in various physiological and pathological conditions. One major reason for this knowledge gap is the lack of technologies that can provide noninvasive measurement of the brain’s hemodynamics with high spatial resolutions. This CAREER project aims to develop a super-resolution photoacoustic tomography approach that can image a mouse brain’s hemodynamic functions with consistently high resolution throughout the brain volume. The new technology will report the absolute values of the blood oxygenation, flow speed, and oxygen metabolism in deep brain. The outcome of this project will generate the much-needed new knowledge about the brain at fine scales for the broad neuroscience community. This outcome is critical for studying the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of brain functions at different physiological conditions, as well as understanding and treating the impairment of brain functions due to various brain illnesses.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.