CAREER: Super-Resolution 3D Ultrasound Imaging of Brain Activity

目前科学家用来研究大脑活动的工具要么速度缓慢，侵入性强，价格昂贵，要么无法广泛或深入地进行精确测量。 该项目将创建一种新的3D超声成像工具，该工具快速，非侵入性，负担得起，并且能够以高分辨率测量大鼠大脑中各处的活动。 有了这个工具，科学家们将能够更好地研究和了解大脑是如何工作的。 这种测量和理解大脑活动的新能力可以帮助改善教学和学习，评估许多与大脑相关的疾病，并导致新的治疗方法。该项目将设计和建造一种新的超声换能器阵列探头，可以在两个非常不同的频率下工作。 该阵列将能够在微小的微泡中产生和感知啁啾振动，这些微泡可以安全地流过体内的血管。 气泡回波信号将被独特地处理，以快速显示与神经活动相关的大脑中血流的详细变化。 该奖项反映了NSF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。

Current tools scientists use to study brain activity tend to be either slow, invasive, expensive, or unable to take precise measurements widely or deeply. This project will create a new 3D ultrasound imaging tool that is fast, non-invasive, affordable, and able to measure activity everywhere in a rat’s brain in high-resolution. With this tool, scientists will be able to better research and understand how the brain works. This new ability to measure and understand brain activity could help improve teaching and learning, assess many brain-related conditions, and lead to new therapies.The project will design and build a new ultrasound transducer array probe that can operate at two very different frequencies. The array will be able to create and sense chirp vibrations in tiny microbubbles that can safely flow through blood vessels in the body. Bubble echo signals will be uniquely processed to quickly show detailed changes in blood flow in the brain that relate to neural activity. The image resolution will be less than 0.05 mm over the full 3D field of view.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.