Caltech Brain Imaging Center Seminar

Abstract: Optically-pumped magnetometers (OPMs) have created excitement in the neuroscience community, since they have provided new opportunities for magnetoencephalography (MEG). These small uncooled quantum sensors have can be placed directly on the scalp of the subject, offering high signal-to-noise for brain signals, and additionally, allow for some subject movement. Understanding the performance and behavior of OPMs and OPM-based imagine system is essential. I will discuss efforts to full-head high-density arrays of OPMs and show validation measurements.

This seminar is part of the "Future Advances in Multi-modal Neuroimaging Methods" series. Existing methods for measuring human brain function non-invasively such as fMRI, MEG and EEG have helped to considerably advance our understanding of human brain function over the past several decades. However, these methods suffer from substantial limitations in spatial and temporal resolution, thereby imposing major constraints on the kinds of neuroscience research questions that can be addressed in humans. This seminar series explores cutting-edge new technologies and methodologies for multi-modal imaging. We will ask whether such new approaches have the potential to overcome existing limitations and open up new research directions in human neuroscience over the coming decades.