Fröhlich Lecture Series in Physics 2016/17
3:30pm - 4:30pm /
Wednesday 8th March 2017
/ Venue: Muspratt Lecture Theatre Chadwick Building
- Professor Peter Weightman
- Admission: Free
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Professor Richard Bowtell
University of Nottingham
Refreshments will be served at 15.15 outside the lecture theatre
The Fröhlich Lectures are presentations by research leaders which are intended to be accessible to a general audience at the advanced undergraduate level.
Abstract
Magnetoencephalography (MEG), which involves measuring the weak magnetic fields generated outside the skull as a result of neuronal current flow in the brain, has become a powerful tool for mapping brain activity with millisecond time resolution. It has had significant impact on neuroscience and is used in some clinical applications. Current MEG scanners use a fixed array of low-temperature superconducting sensors that are separated from the scalp by 3- 6 cm to give thermal isolation. This separation greatly reduces the signal-to-noise ratio of MEG measurements because the fields from neuronal sources decrease as the inverse square of the source-sensor distance. The recent development of small, optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) with a sensitivity that approaches that of SQUID-based systems, allows sensitive measurements of the larger fields generated near the scalp surface and opens up the prospect of building a “wearable” MEG system. This would provide access to high sensitivity measurements in a wider range of subject groups than can currently be investigated, and potentially would allow recordings to be made from moving subjects.
Building on simulations (Boto el al, PloS One, 11 (2016), p. e015765) and initial measurements made sequentially with a single sensor mounted in a 3D printed head cast (Boto et al, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.01.034) we have now made simultaneous measurements over motor cortex using 8 sensors, and are embarking on a (UCL-Nottingham) project to build a 128-channel system, that will operate in conjunction with field cancellation and motion sensing systems. Realisation of the full benefits of the new system will also require the development of novel modelling and analysis strategies, which will be discussed.
University of Nottingham
Refreshments will be served at 15.15 outside the lecture theatre
The Fröhlich Lectures are presentations by research leaders which are intended to be accessible to a general audience at the advanced undergraduate level.
Abstract
Magnetoencephalography (MEG), which involves measuring the weak magnetic fields generated outside the skull as a result of neuronal current flow in the brain, has become a powerful tool for mapping brain activity with millisecond time resolution. It has had significant impact on neuroscience and is used in some clinical applications. Current MEG scanners use a fixed array of low-temperature superconducting sensors that are separated from the scalp by 3- 6 cm to give thermal isolation. This separation greatly reduces the signal-to-noise ratio of MEG measurements because the fields from neuronal sources decrease as the inverse square of the source-sensor distance. The recent development of small, optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) with a sensitivity that approaches that of SQUID-based systems, allows sensitive measurements of the larger fields generated near the scalp surface and opens up the prospect of building a “wearable” MEG system. This would provide access to high sensitivity measurements in a wider range of subject groups than can currently be investigated, and potentially would allow recordings to be made from moving subjects.
Building on simulations (Boto el al, PloS One, 11 (2016), p. e015765) and initial measurements made sequentially with a single sensor mounted in a 3D printed head cast (Boto et al, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.01.034) we have now made simultaneous measurements over motor cortex using 8 sensors, and are embarking on a (UCL-Nottingham) project to build a 128-channel system, that will operate in conjunction with field cancellation and motion sensing systems. Realisation of the full benefits of the new system will also require the development of novel modelling and analysis strategies, which will be discussed.