Brain imaging

Neuroimaging falls into two broad categories: - Structural imaging, which deals with the structure of the brain and the diagnosis of gross (large scale) intracranial disease (such as tumor), and injury - Functional imaging, which is used to diagnose metabolic diseases and lesions on a finer scale (such as Alzheimer's disease) and also for neurological and cognitive psychology research and building brain-computer interfaces. Functional imaging enables, for example, the processing of information by centers in the brain to be visualized directly. Such processing causes the involved area of the brain to increase metabolism and "light up" on the scan.

World’s First Scanner Made for Two

Media Article Link: 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20927973.700-worlds-first-brain-scanner-ma...

Marco Iacoboni, professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute and director of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Lab at the Ahmanson–Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, was quoted in a Jan. 27 New Scientist article about the first MRI machine that can scan two individuals' brains at once.

Staglin IMHRO Blog

Blog

Here you will find questions asked by the public or general articles of interest relating to our current studies

MRI Scanning and Analysis

The Staglin IMHRO Center for Cognitive Neuroscience operates a Siemens 3 Tesla "Tim Trio" MRI scanner. This is a research dedicated scanning platform which can be accessed by members of the UCLA community on a recharge basis ($600/hr). The Center also operates an image analysis core and data archive which can be accessed on a recharge basis (one-time fee of $150 for all data acquired in a 1-hour scan session).

The Center will consider proposals by members of the UCLA community to access both the scanning and analysis core services for pilot studies without charge. Priority will be given to junior investigators and to proposals for novel cognitive neuroscience projects that have a high likelihood of achieving extramural funding. To submit such a request please contact the CCN Director Susan Bookheimer.

Mapping the Brain, the Face and Neurocognitive Function in FASD

Project summary

This project is part of the "Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD)," and its main focus is to use quantitative brain mapping techniques with high-resolution structural and functional MRI from FASD children evaluated across 3 multi-cultural data collection sites (San Diego, Los Angeles, and Capetown, South Africa).

Study finds structural brain alterations in patients with irritable bowel syndrome

A large academic study has demonstrated structural changes in specific brain regions in female patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a condition that causes pain and discomfort in the abdomen, along with diarrhea, constipation or both. A collaborative effort between UCLA and Canada's McGill University, the study appears in the July issue of the journal Gastroenterology. The findings show that IBS is associated with both decreases and increases in grey matter density in key areas of the brain involved in attention, emotion regulation, pain inhibition and the processing of visceral information.

Overview

The NeuroImaging Training Program (NITP) at UCLA was created in September of 2006, with funding from the National Institutes of Health. It is premised on the view that the scientific leaders of tomorrow are those who have the ability to create the tools they need to make the discoveries they seek. Students in the NITP generally will complete a year of graduate training in the Neurosciences, including fundamentals of Neuroanatomy, Systems Neuroscience, Neurophysiology and/or Cognitive Neuroscience. Their second year of graduate training will be an intensive program in the tools of neuroimaging, including acquisition, data processing, analysis and experimental design.

Director/Instructor(s): 
Mark Cohen