Acquisition of a magnetic resonance imaging system to assess brain plasticity

University Of Rochester, Rochester NY

Investigators

Abstract

With support from a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation award, Dr. Richard Aslin and his colleagues at the University of Rochester will establish the Rochester Center for Brain Imaging (RCBI). The overall goal of this new center is to assess the plasticity of the adult and child brain as it adapts to altered and varied experiences. One type of alteration is the loss of sensory input in a single modality (e.g., the loss of vision or hearing because of blindness or deafness). Previous research at Rochester has shown that congenitally deaf individuals who use sign language do so with the same parts of the brain (the left hemisphere) that are usually used for spoken language, despite relying on the visual rather than the auditory modality. Deaf individuals also have greater sensitivity to patterns of movement in the peripheral visual field because they rely more on signed language inputs delivered in the visual modality. These patterns of brain plasticity are the result of altered sensory input during early development and have important implications for the brain's ability to compensate for deprivation and injury, provided that it has time during early development to adapt to these unusual circumstances. Similar mechanisms of plasticity may be present in adults as they learn a new task or compensate for brain injury. The Rochester group will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study both long-term (developmental) and short-term aspects of brain plasticity in adults, children, and non-human primates. The research will provide important insights into the neural mechanisms of learning and plasticity and the keys to the brain's ability to adapt to novel experiences. Working with a team of cognitive scientists and neuroscientists, as well as magnetic resonance physicists and image processing engineers, Dr. Aslin will supervise the purchase, installation, and operation of a 3 tesla (T) fMRI system designed to measure the microscopic changes in blood oxygen level that occur in localized regions of the brain as participants perform a variety of tasks. This system, which is state-of-the-art in the field of human brain imaging, will provide a group of over 30 researchers from the University of Rochester and Cornell University (90 miles from Rochester) with the capability to explore a variety of issues in human brain plasticity and recovery of function after natural deprivation, injury, or disease. A key feature of the new center is a team of physicists and engineers who will develop new ways for fMRI to reveal even more fine-grained details about the functioning and visualization of the brain. This project is important for several reasons. It will provide a first-class facility for non-invasive brain imaging to a group of researchers at Rochester who have already demonstrated their ability to conduct cutting-edge research in cognitive neuroscience. The RCBI will also play a significant role in the training of future scientists by actively involving graduate and undergraduates students from the University of Rochester and Cornell University, as well as undergaduates from the State University of New York at Geneseo (a non-Ph.D.-granting college located 30 miles from Rochester) in state-of-the-art brain imaging research. The new center provides an excellent vehicle to teach the principles of fMRI to a new generation of students who will become leaders in the field of cognitive neuroscience.