Since the University鈥檚 MRI Research Facility opened for operations in early 2007 as part of the Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences, it has been a crucial resource for Brown researchers.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging has been a powerful and popular scanning technology critical to medical and research settings since its in the 1970s. Using magnets and radio waves, the tube-shaped MRI scanner can produce clear images showing organs, muscles or even blood vessels.
MRI scanners are expensive but very capable tools. Scanners themselves cost around $1 million per Tesla of force 鈥� the MRF machine has three Teslas.
The MRI room is also magnetically shielded, preventing the scanner鈥檚 magnetic field from extending beyond the facility and, according to MRF Associate Director of Research Michael Worden, potentially wiping passersby鈥檚 credit cards.
According to Worden, about 50 investigators from fields including neuroscience, engineering, chemistry and medicine are using the MRF. Most researchers work through Brown and Brown-affiliated Lifespan hospitals, but others come from other institutions like the University of Rhode Island, Worden wrote.
Theresa Desrochers, assistant professor of brain science and psychiatry and human behavior, studies cognitive and behavioral sequences in humans and animals. MRI is useful because it can help identify which parts of the brain are used and how those parts are engaged, Desrochers wrote in an email to The Herald.
鈥淭hese kinds of sequences are like making breakfast or a cup of coffee,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淵ou have to keep track of a series of steps and do them in a particular order. We are interested in how the brain does this tracking.鈥�
, which can record activity over time in different parts of the brain, is particularly useful in Desrochers鈥檚 research because it can use similar techniques on both humans and animals.
For Samantha Buyungo 鈥�24, an undergraduate research assistant in the Desrochers Lab, her first experience with MRI wasn鈥檛 in a research setting but a medical one after a knee injury between eighth and ninth grade.
鈥淎fter getting an MRI, years later, to be working with the MRI (studying) sequential processing is interesting,鈥� Buyungo said.
For her undergraduate thesis, Buyungo is comparing individuals with and without OCD in sequential processing tasks.
Buyongo said that in her present research, she aims to use MRI to more clearly visualize what is happening inside the brain 鈥� and hopes to continue doing so in the future.
Buyungo said MRI can that mental health 鈥� along with mental illness 鈥� is a 鈥渃oncrete thing,鈥� even if it isn鈥檛 immediately visible like physical health indicators.
鈥淣o matter how difficult my research gets, that鈥檚 something that I always like to come back to,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hese are things that matter and can help you better understand someone else.鈥�
Haley Keglovits GS, a PhD candidate, is studying how humans carry out executive functions in the brain in the lab of Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences David Badre, who also chairs the department.
Executive functions are higher-level cognitive skills that allow individuals 鈥渢o be flexible and not perform the same behaviors in response to a specific environmental cue,鈥� Keglovits wrote in an email to The Herald. 鈥淔or example, you might pick up your phone if you hear it beep when you are sitting at home, but not when you are driving.鈥�
Keglovits鈥檚 study also employs functional MRI: Participants perform tasks related to executive brain functioning, and her team analyzes their patterns of brain activity and how the patterns change when participants encounter different objectives.
Scan results are 鈥渧ery different from what you might see on TV, where characters have (colored) dots popping up on their brain pictures in real-time,鈥� Keglovits wrote. Instead, data processing is required before the researchers gather insights from a scan.
MRI research can create challenges, Keglovits and Desrochers wrote. For example, people must remain still in the scanner to prevent a blurry image 鈥� but keeping them comfortable might mean putting them to sleep, Keglovits added.
鈥淚f we make people too comfy and have them lay down in a dark room with pillows and a blanket, they can fall asleep while trying to do a task,鈥� she wrote.
The backbone of the MRF鈥檚 research is a closely integrated team allowing researchers to turn MRI imaging into 鈥渞obust and interpretable results,鈥� Worden said. The MRF also relies on collaborations, extensive and rigorous safety protocols and the support of the Carney Institute for Brain Science, Worden said.
鈥淭he human brain is the most complicated thing in the known universe,鈥� Worden said. 鈥淯nderstanding how the brain works, how cognition, behavior, disorders are related 鈥� these are incredibly important scientific endeavors.鈥�
Ranjana 鈥淛aanu鈥� Ramesh is a Bruno Brief-er, photographer and Senior Staff Writer covering science & research. She loves service, empathetic medicine and working with kids. When not writing or studying comp neuro, Jaanu is outside, reading, skiing, or observing Providence wildlife (ie: squirrels).
