Center for Pediatric Brain Health

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Abstract/Summary: Administrative Supplement for the Center for Pediatric Brain Health The Center for Pediatric Brain Health is a NIGMS COBRE at Boys Town National Research Hospital (BTNRH) that recently entered its second year. The Center is housed in the new, state-of-the-art, 15,000+ square foot Institute for Human Neuroscience building on the main Boys Town campus. The key components of the Center include the Administrative Core, one research core (i.e., the Neural Quantification and Imaging Core), four research project leaders (RPLs), a Supervisory and Mentoring Committee, and a cohort of established pediatric neuroscientists. The Center has unique strengths in the area of dynamic neuroimaging, with one of the largest and most productive magnetoencephalography (MEG) groups in the world. MEG is a noninvasive neuroimaging method with millimeter spatial precision and millisecond temporal resolution that is ideal for studying children due to its open, non-claustrophobic design and completely silent data acquisition environment. However, like MRI and other human neuroimaging modalities, the method is susceptible to participant movement, which has typically limited its application to children who are typically about six years or older. In 2022, the Center for Pediatric Brain Health installed the first high-density optically-pumped magnetometry (OPM) unit in North America. OPM is a new method that measures the same magnetic fields detected in MEG but does so by harnessing recent breakthroughs in quantum physics that were rapidly accelerated by President Obama’s BRAIN Initiative. These key breakthroughs allow the sensors to operate at room temperature and be placed directly on the scalp, which means the measured magnetic fields are much stronger than in MEG (i.e., improved signal-to-noise ratio) and the sensors move with the head. The latter quality means that OPM is much more tolerant of head motion than MEG, MRI, and other comparable imaging modalities and thus enables high resolution imaging in very young children. Our current OPM array contains 128-channels and is optimized for older adolescents and adults and has been used extensively despite the short time since installation. During this time, we have also made custom arrays for babies as young as three-months-old by attaching the OPM sensors to baby hats (e.g., beanie caps) using custom 3D-printed clips. While such innovation has helped move us forward, a dedicated array for neonates, infants, and other very young children would revolutionize this work and lead to high precision dynamic functional maps of neural activity from babies at the earliest stages of life. Further, such a second array would allow “hyper-scanning” of parent-child dyads and illuminate how some of the most important social interactions in life shape the trajectory of brain development thereafter. Thus, through this administrative supplement and significant institutional funding, we are requesting support to acquire, install, and integrate a 64-channel OPM array for advancing pediatric neuroscience. When complete, this OPM system will be the first of its kind in the world and advance multiple research programs associated with our Center, while also establishing the Center as an international hub for developmental neuroscience.