Seeing the Future with Imaging Science Interdisciplinary Research Team Summaries (2011) / Chapter Skim
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IDR Team Summary 1: Develop a method to integrate neuroimaging technologies at different length and time scales.
IDR Team Summary 1: Develop a method to integrate neuroimaging technologies at different length and time scales.
Pages 5-20
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From page 5... ...
Each of these imaging technologies contributes different but ultimately related understanding of the brain's neural circuitry. There is fertile ground for the application of integration techniques; however, currently there is risk of dividing the data acquired using these different modalities into segregated fields.
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From page 6... ...
Although there have been ad hoc efforts to combine data from different modalities, a systematic approach -- which may lead to groundbreaking methodologies and science -- is lacking. Key Questions • How do we establish a common computational language that might be used by investigators using these diverse technologies to measure neural circuitry and neural signals?
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From page 7... ...
Ohki K, Chung S, Ch'ng YH, Kara P, Reid RC. Functional imaging with cellular resolution reveals precise micro-architecture in visual cortex.
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Combining data from different technologies will require researchers and tools capable of understanding that basic neural circuitry in great depth so that they can create a model that can integrate the various measurements into data that makes sense to the investigator. First, the researchers will need an in-depth understanding of the relationships between key elements of neural signaling, processes like action potentials and glial signals, and techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
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What is it that we could learn about the brain by integrating neuroimaging techniques? Most methods of brain imaging use indirect contrasts.
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They would monitor cognitive impairment in the animal and conduct a battery of macroscale imaging techniques, including positron emission tomography (PET) to determine the time course of plaque formation and metabolic change, PAT of the hemodynamics, diffusion tensor imagaging (DTI)
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"When you're using one technique at one scale, you have to have the other techniques in mind." The ability to work with multiple techniques will help researchers compare and contrast imaging data by concurrently collecting datasets in animal models and humans.
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, University of Minnesota • Gordon X. Wang, Stanford University • Keith Rozendal, University of California, Santa Cruz IDR TEAM SUMMARY -- GROUP B Keith Rozendal, NAKFI Science Writing Scholar, University of California, Santa Cruz In 1990, President George H.W. Bush proclaimed the decade beginning January 1, 1990, to be the Decade of the Brain, pointing to "advances in brain imaging devices .
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From page 13... ...
tackled this challenge during the 2010 National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Conference on Imaging Science. Their discussion of integration strategies followed a series of key questions posed by the steering committee that shaped the conference agenda and assembled the teams.
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From page 14... ...
The team insisted that this gold standard needs to incorporate both structure and functional aspects. Some of the fundamental units proposed included the electrophysiology of a signaling neuron, the connections and neurochemical specialization of receptors and nerve cells, small circuits of neurons connected together, or the mini-columns found to be core structures organizing the cortex and often serving specific functions.
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From page 15... ...
Regardless of the physics of the signal, the team also pursued a potential common computational approach for mapping and integrating neuroimaging data between the different scales. Here the team focused on the future promise of applying graph theory and other means of representing data in a common framework, abstracted from the underlying physical reality.
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From page 16... ...
Calculating correlations observed between real imaging data that bridge levels of time and space in this manner will help identify some of the coherence in the nervous system's structural and functional organization. Thus, the abstract representation of information and its flow that graph theory produces could serve as a gold standard unit that helps align data from different levels of brain imaging.
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From page 17... ...
Many of the neuroimaging techniques available require sacrificing the research subject, which obviously precludes all but the post mortem study of human beings. The team nevertheless wanted to push the limits of noninvasive techniques in order to use human subjects whenever practicable.
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These investigators are currently driving the development of perturbation technologies that are compatible with existing functional imaging modalities like MRI.
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From page 19... ...
1. Medics needed The discussion here focused on clinical applications of neuroimaging technology, perhaps seeking more of an answer to the "why" challenge, and less to the "how." It was generally agreed that the integration of neuroimaging techniques could produce important gains in medicine, but it was noted that the costs of neuroimaging block its adoption in the clinic, even of single modality imagery.
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From page 20... ...
That is, scientists will be inspired by other scientists who have already adopted more complete modeling and imaging approaches, achieved breakthroughs, and attracted funding. The cognitive science field quickly adopted imaging techniques after applications to cases in the field emerged.
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