Brain microstructural modeling for improved TMS anchoring - Joint Projects 2015

Starting date
July 1, 2016
Duration (months)
24
Departments
Computer Science, Department of Engineering for Innovation Medicine
Managers or local contacts
Menegaz Gloria

The project aims at investigating new signal reconstruction methods from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) allowing an improved description of microstructural properties and at assessing their impact on the accurate anchoring of the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) electromagnetic field by the consequentially identified neuronal axons’ orientation and microstructural features.

Realistic modeling of TMS brain stimulation requires the integration of microstructural properties with modeling of the electromagnetic field pulse propagation in complex (non homogeneous) structures.

The most appropriate way for tackling this problem is to inject microstructural models into dynamic electro-magnetic (EM) propagation models and validating them in real operational conditions. Though, this is a very difficult problem for which a solution is far from being reached in the state-of-the-art (SOA).

In this project, we focus on two specific issues intervening in the global solution: modeling of the diffusion signal and assessment of the impact of the devised solution on the characterization of neuronal targeting in TMS, using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for benchmarking. The validation will be performed by multi-modality assessment by two ad-hoc experiments. These will be performed using the neuronavigation system (NSS) and the Video-EEG facilities that are available at the Navigation Lab (NAVLab), complemented by a 32-channel EEG cap enabling improved spatial resolution.

Sponsors:

EB Neuro SpA
Funds: assigned and managed by the department

Project participants

Gloria Menegaz
Full Professor
Research areas involved in the project
Bioinformatica e informatica medica
Life and medical sciences
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