MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2016



A Look Inside the Human Brain using Modern Imaging Technologies

Dimitrios Pantazis, Director of MEG Lab

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

Modern imaging technologies at MIT and MGH provide exciting new ways to understand the structure and function of the human brain. We will provide guided tours of our imaging facilities and show how we use these tools to look inside the brain. Our recently installed MEG system, capable of measuring magnetic fields a billionth of the magnetic field of earth, can record the simultaneous firing of thousands of cortical neurons as they form dynamic networks.  Our MRI scanners provide high resolution images of the human brain as subjects perform a wide range of perceptual and cognitive tasks. Our PET scanners can identify and localize specific molecules in the brain, revealing pathologies that may underlie many different brain disorders. TMS is a noninvasive method that uses electromagnetic induction to create weak electric currents and cause depolarization or hyperpolarization in the neurons of the brain. NIRS uses infrared light to illuminate tissue and infer brain activity through the diffusion and scattering of this light. tCS is a neurostimulation technique that uses low current delivered to the brain using electrodes on the scalp. We will introduce these technologies, offer lab tours and demonstrate data collection, and discuss their contribution to neuroscience.

Contact: Dimitrios Pantazis, 46-5147, 617 324-6292, PANTAZIS@MIT.EDU


Seminar on Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Jan/20 Wed 02:00PM-03:00PM MIT bldg46, rm3015

Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) instrumentation, principles of light scattering and absorption, imaging of oxygenated hemoglobin, NIRS applications.

Juliette Selb - Instructor


Seminar on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Jan/20 Wed 03:00PM-04:30PM MIT bldg46, rm3015

Topics include MRI instrumentation, magnetic fields, safety, functional imaging with BOLD response, diffusion imaging, and others.

Anastasia Yendiki - Assistant Professor, Atsushi Takahashi - Assistant Director, MR Physicist


A tour at the MRI Lab

Jan/20 Wed 04:30PM-05:30PM MIT bldg46, rm1171

A tour at the MRI lab. Demo scan (finger tapping) and data analysis.

MRI Lab: http://mcgovern.mit.edu/technology/martinos-imaging-center/technical-resources

Steven P Shannon - Operations Manager and MR Research Technologist, Sheeba Arnold Anteraper - MR Programmer, Atsushi Takahashi - Assistant Director, MR Physicist


Seminar on Positron Emission Tomography

Jan/21 Thu 02:00PM-03:00PM MIT bldg46, rm3015

Seminar on Positron Emission Technology. Introduction to PET technology and scanners at MGH; applications in tumor detection; brain metabolic activity; gene expression; neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer¿s and Parkinson's; pharmacology etc.

Quanzheng Li - Assistant Professor


Seminar on Magnetoencephalography

Jan/21 Thu 03:00PM-04:00PM MIT bldg46, rm3015

Electrophysiological basis of MEG signals; instrumentation; modeling; cortical rhythms; brain networks; combining MEG with fMRI, studying the human visual system. 

Dimitrios Pantazis - Director of MEG Lab


A tour at the MEG Lab

Jan/21 Thu 04:00PM-05:00PM MIT bldg46, rm1147

A tour at the MEG Lab, demo scan and data analysis of an MEG experiment

MEG Lab: http://mcgovern.mit.edu/technology/meg-lab

Dimitrios Pantazis - Director of MEG Lab, Yasaman Bagherzadeh - Postdoctoral Affiliate


Seminar and demo on TMS

Jan/22 Fri 03:00PM-05:00PM MGH CNY 149 - A, Location in Charlestown!

Use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to depolarize and hyperpolarize neurons of the brain, applications to treat depression and examine basic mechanisms of post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, among others. The seminar will include a demo of the MGH TMS system!

Aapo Nummenmaa - Instructor


Seminar on Transcranial Current Stim.

Jan/22 Fri Time TBD Seminar Cancelled

Introduction on transcranial current stimulation. Differences and applications of direct- and alternating-current stimulation (tDCS and tACS), instrumentation, modulation of ongoing rhythmic brain activity.

Dimitrios Pantazis - Director of MEG Lab