With support from the NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program to the University of Washington (UW), Drs. Geoffrey M. Boynton in the Psychology Department and Patricia K. Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, will purchase a Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3-Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner for human neuroimaging research. MRI is the primary tool for investigating the human brain. This instrument will be shared and available for scientists from a wide range of departments including Psychology, Speech and Hearing, Radiology, Psychiatry and Computer Science. This state-of-the-art device has four functions for studying the human brain: structural imaging, functional imaging, diffusion weighted imaging and magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy. Structural imaging is using the MRI scanner to acquire images of brain structure which can be used to study, for example, how the brain structure differs across different populations, or how age and experience affect the growth of the human brain. Functional imaging, or "functional magnetic resonance imaging, (fMRI)" is used to measure where and when brain activity occurs as human subjects perform a task or experience sensory stimulation. fMRI relies on the MRI scanner's ability to measure changes in the level of oxygenated vs. deoxygenated blood that are caused by changes in brain activity. Diffusion weighted imaging can detect the major neuronal pathways in the brain by measuring the way in which water molecules naturally diffuse along these pathways. Finally, MR spectroscopy measures the levels of neurotransmitter concentration, such as the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA throughout the brain. Different levels of GABA have been found to vary, for example, between subjects with autism and neurotypical subjects.
This new MRI scanner will be the primary device for studying a wide range of human neuroscience problems. These include studies of linguistic function and dysfunction, cognition, developmental cognitive neuroscience, sensory neuroscience, neurological disorders, and studies of social cognition including autism. The four functions described above will be used to study a wide variety of subjects including children, adolescents, subjects with autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD), Alzheimer's, blindness, dyslexia, and Parkinson's disease. For example, fMRI will be used to study the brain's response while subjects with ADD attempt to ignore a visual stimulus. In another example, diffusion MRI will be used to study changes in prefrontal executive function networks in children during language development. The new scanner will form the centerpiece of a thriving and growing human interdisciplinary neuroscience community and will further strengthen an existing culture of training in neuroimaging data acquisition and analysis methods. Through a program of courses and hands-on training, we will provide the training that is needed for students and postdocs across all disciplines to master the advanced imaging techniques necessary to launch successful independent careers in the human neurosciences.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
