Noninvasive Functional Imaging in Humans and Mice

"Noninvasive Functional Imaging in Humans and Mice "Felix Darvas
USC (SIPI)Host: Prof. Richard Leahy (leahy@sipi.usc.edu)AbstractMagnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) provide a unique window on the human brain on a millisecond time scale. Both modalities measure the electromagnetic signals produced by electrical activity in the brain non-invasively. The analysis of cortical activity from MEG and EEG requires the solution of an inverse problem and the associated forward problem. The presentation will introduce basic aspects of the forward and inverse problem and will give a detailed description of two applications which address the solution of the forward problem by means of a generic surrogate head model and the statistical evaluation of the inverse solution. Practical applications of the two methods will be demonstrated by the analysis of two experiments, a somatotopic mapping of the digits in healthy human subjects using MEG and measurement of visual evoked potentials (VEP) in blind subjects with a retinal implant.Another imaging modality, optical bioluminescence tomography, which makes use of similar principles, will also be presented. This image modality has its primary application in the molecular imaging domain in small animals, i.e. in mice. Aspects of forward photon flux forward models and the novel approach of hyperspectral optical tomography will be discussed and preliminary results of in-vivo application of the method in tumor mice will be shown.BiographyUndergraduate studies of physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München (LMU) and the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) AAchen. Graduated in 1998 with degree Diplom-Physiker (MS physics). Graduate studies from 1998 to 2002 at the RWTH Aachen in the field of biomedical imaging, thesis on time dependent current density reconstruction from EEG data. Postdoctoral research associate at Signal and Image Processing Institute (SIPI) at the University of Southern California from 2002- present. Current work on forward modeling and source analysis in MEG/EEG and optical imaging.

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Regina Morton