Brain activity is spatially distributed in three dimensions of the brain and evolves with time. Recent advances in medical imaging technology, such as functional MRI, have greatly increased our ability to image brain functions with high spatial resolution. However, no single brain imaging technology is currently capable of providing both near millimeter precision in localizing regions of activated tissues and sub-second temporal precision for characterizing changes in patterns of activation over time. While electroencephalograms offer excellent temporal resolution to characterize rapidly changing patterns of brain activation, conventional EEG techniques are limited due to their inability to provide spatial information regarding brain activity. Thus, it is of great importance to develop technologies, which can non-invasively image brain activity with high spatial and temporal resolution.
A coherent research and teaching plan is proposed for the CAREER program. The focus of the research is to develop Brain Electric Source Imaging (BESI) methodologies to achieve high-resolution spatio-temporal mapping of the human brain. The successful development of BESI methodologies will significantly advance the state-of-the-art in the field of biomedical engineering, and have an important impact on the fields of neurology and neurosurgery.
In order to achieve the proposed research objectives, the following aims will be addressed: (1) Boundary Element Head Modeling - to develop engineering methods to link the cortical potential with the scalp potential in a realistically shaped inhomogeneous head, (2) Brain Source Image Reconstruction - to develop imaging algorithms reconstructing cortical potentials from scalp potentials and determine optimal system parameters in a realistic setting, (3) Experimental Validation - to validate experimentally the proposed BESI methods in a realistic head phantom, and (4) Initial Clinical Testing - to initially test the proposed BESI methodologies from intraoperative cortical recordings in epilepsy patients.
An innovative teaching plan, tightly linked with the BESI research, will include: (1) development of two new courses (a) "Neural Engineering" (Graduate course), and (b) "Introduction to Neural Engineering" (Senior/Graduate course), (2) development of internet-based neural engineering courseware facilitating effective teaching and distance learning, and (3) initiation and development of a new curriculum in Neural Engineering.
