Launching the New MRI Research and Discovery Center
Nearly 100 people recently gathered to celebrate the grand opening of Florida Atlantic’s new MRI Research and Discovery Center, supported by the university’s Stiles- Nicholson Brain Institute and Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention.
The institutes also announced the first round of pilot grants for use of human studies tapping into the resources of the new MRI center, led by Andrew Newberg, MD, medical director.
Take a look at the projects:
The Neural Bases of Hierarchical Foraging Control
Foraging is a ubiquitous activity across species and has been widely used to investigate the neural correlates of high-level decision-making in humans and animals. While research on foraging has focused on the high-level patch-leaving decision, foraging in the real world requires the coordination of behaviors across a range of temporal and spatial scales. This proposal, using fMRI, behavioral studies and computational modeling to investigate whether foraging behavior is optimal when low-level behaviors must be optimized alongside high-level choices, and which regions of the brain represent decision variables necessary for achieving this joint optimization.
Neural Representation of Visual Imagery in Aphantasia
The proposed research aims to elucidate the contribution of visual imagery to working memory and episodic memory in subjects with aphantasia and age-matched controls. Aphantasia is a natural condition characterized by impairments in mental imagery, especially visual imagery. Using fMRI in conjunction with computational modeling, the investigators will investigate mental representations of visual working memory and visual imagery. The project seeks to determine whether aphantasia stems from difficulties in generating mental imagery, or from a dysfunction in the conscious awareness of the neural representation produced by mental imagery.
Measurement of Brain NAD Levels in Alzheimer’s Patients and Control Subjects by 1H-MRS
Alzheimer’s disease is an age-related neurodegenerative disease linked to the accumulation in the brain of misfolded protein aggregates inducing a cascade of cellular toxic gain of function events eventually leading to neuronal demise. Notably, experimental models have shown reductions of the cell essential metabolite nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) as well as the promise of NAD elevating interventions. This study will obtain pilot data related to the potential use of brain NAD as a biomarker for disease progression and/or a biomarker to identify classification criteria for patients with the lowest NAD levels who would most benefit from NAD elevating strategies currently under preclinical development.
Feasibility and Acceptability of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Biomarkers to Explore the Effects of Canines in Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms
A large number of U.S. veterans battle post-traumatic stress disorder, yet current treatment options demonstrate suboptimal symptom improvement. Given the significant consequences of Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome in veterans’ lives, it is imperative to identify complementary and integrative approaches to promote their health and well-being. Using a within-participants design, the investigators will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and suitability of utilizing structural MRI (sMRI) and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) as neurobiological imaging biomarkers in an existing dog adoption and training intervention project among veterans with Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome.
Art of Science, Honorable Mention
Photograph by Refaat Gabr, Ph.D., director of Florida Atlantic’s new MRI Research and Discovery Center, earned an honorable mention in the Division of Research Art of Science photography and videography contest.
White matter fiber tracts in the brain, identified using diffusion MRI, reveal the pathways of microscopic water movement. The fibers are color-coded according to the direction of water diffusion: Blue represents diffusion in the up-down (inferior-superior) direction, green indicates diffusion in the front-back (anteriorposterior) direction, and red shows diffusion in the left-right direction. The MRI data were acquired from a healthy volunteer at Florida Atlantic University’s MRI facility. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-ionizing medical imaging technique that uses magnetic fields to generate detailed images. In this case, MRI was employed to capture a series of brain images, each sensitive to water movement along a specific direction. Mathematical models were then used to compute the direction and magnitude of the brain fibers. A tracing technique was applied to identify the white matter fiber tracts, with the visualization color-coding the fibers based on the direction of diffusion.