Multimodal Imaging of the Brain's Dynamic Functional Connections

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Understanding and modeling brain networks constitutes a major research area in brain imaging and neuroscience. In our previous NSERC supported research program, we developed new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and analysis methods to create more accurate images of the brain's functional networks. FMRI, however, only tells us about brain activity by measuring blood flow. Electrical activity and tissue oxygen also change with brain activity, and they can be measured independently using electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), respectively. However, the interrelationship between these measures is complicated by the fact that communication between brain regions is not static, but fluctuates on a time scale of seconds to minutes. Recording blood flow, electrical activity and tissue oxygen at the same time will allow us to better determine the organization of brain networks. We are seeking funding to extend our research program to bring these technologies together for the purposes of more accurate brain network imaging. ***The long-term objective of my research program is to develop imaging technologies to better understand the organization and function of the human brain. My overall hypothesis is that simultaneous recording of blood flow, electrical activity and tissue oxygen, and data analysis techniques that account for the dynamic nature of brain region communication, will more accurately determine brain functional networks. My specific objectives focus on the development of imaging technologies to record and analyze brain activity signals collected using multiple techniques (fMRI, EEG, fNIRS) in order to generate accurate images of the brain's functional networks:***1. We will develop new fMRI methods as well as new analysis methods that incorporate the dynamic nature of functional connections, to more accurately determine brain networks.***2. We will develop new ways to determine brain networks using fNIRS and EEG data simultaneously recorded with fMRI, and we will develop ways to compute brain networks by combining the data from each imaging technique.***3. We will validate our new approaches using simulations and data collected from human subjects.***The development of new imaging techniques will provide the future ability to investigate fundamental neuroimaging and neuroscience questions of brain systems, with the potential to determine how the brain performs complex cognitive processing. Our research program will provide an excellent environment in which to train students and other research personnel in imaging technology development, an area of accelerating growth in Canadian research and industry.**