MRI: Acquisition of ETG-4000 24 Channel Optical Topography System for Research, Training and Outreach

这项重大研究仪器奖允许Nicholas Stergiou博士和四名合作研究人员购买功能性近红外光谱（fNIRS）系统。参与的研究人员都活跃在人体运动和神经科学领域。该系统能够在功能姿势和活动（如站立和行走）中对大脑进行成像。因此，与其他需要人平躺和静止的技术相比，这种仪器可以在更自然的条件下实现大脑成像。fNIRS是一项迅速兴起的技术，将改变内布拉斯加州生物力学核心设施目前的研究计划，实现前沿研究。该设施专门从事步态和平衡的神经肌肉控制。它将运动控制原理与数学理论相结合，以开发新的生物技术，操纵感官通路，以增强对运动的控制。fNIRS将在这项研究计划中发挥关键作用，使研究人员能够检查听觉，视觉和触觉反馈的神经相关性，这些反馈先前已被证明可以改善步态，平衡和上肢运动。这一新的知识将在以后应用于患者群体的运动康复。除了内布拉斯加生物力学核心设施，fNIRS技术将在机构内和机构间使用。来自克雷顿大学和内布拉斯加大学奥马哈分校心理学系的研究人员提出了一些将由fNIRS仪器实现的基础研究活动。在这些活动中，将在有氧运动之前、期间和之后检查皮质脑活动，以确定前额叶皮质中的认知表现和脑活动是否与有氧运动有关。对无关或冗余感觉信息的抑制性控制被称为神经元反应的“门控”。另一个项目将检查感觉门控的重测信度，使用一个既定的范例测量。其他研究将调查下肢肌肉疲劳的神经相关性和生物反馈对运动学习中皮层活动的影响，基于为期四周的训练研究。内布拉斯加生物力学核心设施致力于让本科生和研究生参与研究，这反映在许多学生志愿者，付费学生工人和实习生自成立以来一直通过该设施。fNIRS仪器将改变这些学生可以解决的潜在研究问题的前景。此外，内布拉斯加州生物力学核心设施参与外联活动，邀请低收入高中学生到该设施，使他们接触生物力学作为未来可能的职业。fNIRS将是一个特别令人兴奋的设备，添加到这个程序，并将激发兴趣的神经科学在这群学生谁是目前在大学水平代表性不足。

This Major Research Instrumentation award permits Dr. Nicholas Stergiou and four co-investigators to purchase a functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system. The participating researchers are all active in the area of human movement and neuroscience. This system enables imaging of the brain in functional postures and activities such as standing and walking. Brain imaging is therefore enabled under more natural conditions with this instrument, compared with other technologies that require the person to lie flat and still. The fNIRS is a rapidly emerging technology that will transform the current research program at the Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility, enabling the realization of leading-edge research. This facility specializes in the neuromuscular control of gait and balance. It combines the principles of motor control with mathematical theory to develop novel biotechnologies that manipulate the sensory pathways for enhanced control of movement. The fNIRS will play a key role in this program of research, allowing the researchers to examine the neural correlates of auditory, visual and tactile feedback that have previously been shown to improve gait, balance and upper limb movement. This new knowledge will be later applied in the rehabilitation of movement in patient populations. Beyond the Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility, the fNIRS technology will be subject to both intra- and inter-institutional use. Researchers from Creighton University and the Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska at Omaha propose a number of fundamental research activities that will be enabled by the fNIRS instrument. In these activities cortical brain activity will be examined before, during and after aerobic exercise to establish whether or not cognitive performance and brain activity in the prefrontal cortex is related to aerobic exercise. Inhibitory control of irrelevant or redundant sensory information is known as "gating" of neuronal responses. Another project will examine the test-retest reliability of sensory gating, measured using an established paradigm. Additional research will investigate the neural correlates of lower-limb muscular fatigue and the effect of biofeedback on cortical activity in motor learning, based on a four-week training study.The Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility is committed to involving undergraduate and graduate students in research, reflected in the many student volunteers, paid student workers and interns that have passed though the facility since its establishment. The fNIRS instrumentation will transform the vista of potential research questions that these students can tackle. Additionally, the Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility is involved in outreach initiatives that invite low-income high school students to the facility to expose them to biomechanics as a possible future career. The fNIRS will be a particularly exciting device to add to this program and will stimulate interest in the neurosciences in this population of students who are currently underrepresented at university level.