Biophysical modelling of white matter structure

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Brain white matter makes up the wires that connect different regions in the brain. It is affected in hundreds of brain diseases, and is the main target of many of these. It is important to be able to make detailed measurements of features of white matter if we are trying to understand the nature of a disease; if we want to watch the progression of a disease in a particular patient; or if we want to find out if a drug is being effective against the disease. At the moment, it is only possible to take these detailed measurements in a dead brain using a microscope. We can take measurements in living people using an MRI machine, but these are much coarser, only giving us a rough estimate that something about the white matter has changed. We propose to use different kinds of MRI data together with mathematical modelling techniques to make detailed measurements of specific features of white matter, such as the cell size, the density of the cells and the amount of electrical insulation. The ability to take these measurements in-vivo will give doctors and clinical researchers access to a great deal more information when they are suggesting treatment, or researching into the disease.