This is an application, entitled """"""""Brain basis of memory studied by fMRI & intracranial EEG"""""""", for a K08-Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award. During the award period the candidate will acquire the theoretical background and practical knowledge to further develop as a clinician-scientist skilled in using multiple functional brain mapping techniques to better understand the cognitive physiology of memory in neurosurgical patients and healthy subjects. The candidate's research goals are: 1) to demonstrate the anatomic and physiologic functional arrangement of specific memory function in the human brain; 2) to cross validate information acquired through functional MRI (fMRI) and electrophysiologic techniques, thereby improving our understanding of the relationship between these different brain signals; and 3) to use these techniques to define individual functional anatomy in neurosurgical patients. The candidate's training goals are: 1) to learn intracranial electrophysiologic (iEEG) recording and analysis techniques; 2) to further develop skills in advanced fMRI imaging; 3) to continue to refine her research skills including data analysis, interpretation, and presentation; and 4) to continue to investigate the theory and tools of current cognitive neuroscience. The candidate proposes an integrated program of training and research directed towards better understanding the neuroanatomic basis of memory. By working with several different techniques, this program aims to help unify some of the inconsistencies between lesion-based and fMRI-based studies of memory function. The subjects for these studies will be neurosurgical patients who require intra- or extra-operative electrocortical mapping as an adjunct to their surgery for brain tumors or medically refractory epilepsy. Functional MRI will be used to study patient/subjects preoperatively and will be compared with iEEG and stimulation responses. As a neurosurgeon specializing in the treatment of epilepsy and brain tumors in eloquent cortex, the candidate is in a uniquely privileged position to advance basic science and clinical outcomes by performing these types of studies and correlating them with both clinical findings and fMRI results. The resources of Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Surgical Planning Laboratory, together with the mentorship of Michael Kahana in cognitive science and iEEG, and Ferenc Jolesz in MRI and image analysis, will provide the candidate with the ideal environment in which to accomplish these goals. This type of work in humans will be essential to the important scientific goal of understanding the relationship between the fMRI signal and underlying brain activity, as well as providing a link to the extensive existing body of animal and human electrophysiologic research. In addition to its importance for neuroscience, the cross-modality validation of fMRI electrophysiology and stimulation testing is vital to fMRI's deployment as a tool for pre-operative brain mapping. The expertise gained through this program will support the candidate's long-term combined clinical and scientific career aims of becoming an innovator in academic neurosurgery, who can help advance her field by bridging research in cognitive science and brain mapping and by applying these advances to improve patient care. ? ?
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