SFB 1436/1 Start-up Funding - Z02 "Human imaging at meso-scale"

Der SFB 1436 hat das Ziel, neuronale Ressourcen auf allen Größenskalen zu untersuchen durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz, welcher funktionelle und strukturelle Eigenschaften von kortikalen und subkortikalen Schaltkreisen mit Verhalten und Leistungsfähigkeit in Zusammenhang bringt und Interventionen untersucht. Technologische Fortschritte im Bereich der in vivo Gehirnbildgebung des menschlichen Gehirns sowie der multimodalen Modellierung sollen eine Brücke zwischen Molekularen Studien an Tiermodellen und Verhaltensstudien an Versuchspersonen und Patienten bauen. Projekt Z02 des SFB 1436 wird Technologien entwickeln, testen und bereitstellen, welche mittels Ultrahochfeld-MRT neue Möglichkeiten schaffen indem sie (i) die geeigneten Messmethoden etablieren und beste Datenqualität sichern und (ii) komputationale Werkzeuge und Analysemethoden erforschen, um Hirnnetzwerke auf unterschiedlichen Skalen in einzelnen Individuen sowie in Gruppen zu modellieren.

Human imaging at meso-scale

It is known from animal work that most mechanisms limiting neural resources manifest at the level of brain microstructure and influence brain functions at different hierarchical levels, such as brain macrostructure, neuronal networks, and behavioural phenotypes. Current research on neural resources in humans, however, often lacks a mechanistic level of explanation due to missing technology and/or methodological expertise needed to describe neuronal changes at the meso-scale (i.e. at the level of cortical layers or neuronal ensembles). This hinders knowledge transfer from mechanistic insights at the micro-scale gained in animal research to macro-scale human brain models and interventions. The CRC initiative has the overall goal to systematically investigate neural resources at the micro-, meso-, and macro-scale by taking an interdisciplinary and multi-scale approach and to link changes in the functional and structural architecture of cortical and subcortical micro-circuits to behavioural performance and cognitive interventions. Technological advancements in meso-scale brain imaging, meso-scale data modelling, and multi-modal and multi-scale data interaction can bridge this gap. The aim of Z02 is to develop and test novel technologies using ultra-high resolution 7 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (7T MRI) for wider applications in human subjects and primates and to provide them to the researchers of the CRC projects by ensuring (i) usage of appropriate and state-of-the-art MR-sequences that offer reproducible and optimised data quality and (ii) computational tools and analysis pipelines for multi-modal and multi-scale data modelling within and across individuals. Z02 has the overarching goal of modelling the human cortex in three dimensions, that is, both in plane at the cortical surface (dimensions 1&2) and in cortical depth (dimension 3, cf. Kuehn & Sereno 2018, Fig. 1). This approach extends the frequently applied localisation of function in cortical regions, e.g. Brodmann areas, or more advanced and ambitious columnar mapping, to a novel level of detail relevant for cognitive processes (e.g., Larkum et al. 2018). This will allow the CRC projects to target research questions on neural resources in a novel yet undiscovered dimension, while at the same time enabling Magdeburg to maintain its leading position for human brain imaging in Europe.