Neurovascular Imaging Across Scales in Animals and Humans

About This Grant

There have been great advances in microscopic and non-invasive optical neuroimaging technologies, which allow neuroscientists to visualize molecular, cellular and systems-level brain physiology and functions. For the last five years, these technological efforts have been greatly facilitated by the BRAIN Initiative, which also supports the pipeline to commercialization. However, this fast growth has widened the gap between the developers and the neuroscience community in need. This is because to properly use these novel tools, it is important to understand the underlying physical principles and have the practical skills in data collection and analysis. Furthermore, each technique comes with its limitations, and understanding these limitations is critical for avoiding unconscious bias. Thus, although instrumentation may be available, the researchers are often not fully utilizing these tools due to the lack of proper training. To this end, we propose a two-week Summer School program in Neurovascular Imaging Across Scales in Animals and Humans run by the Boston University (BU) Neurophotonics Center. This program will offer hands- on, practical training in a number of optical imaging technologies applicable to in vivo studies in awake behaving animals. In addition, we include a macroscopic, non-invasive optical imaging modality applicable to humans. These technologies will be taught and exemplified in the context of specific neuroscience questions developed by trainees. These questions will be centered on neurovascular brain physiology in heath and disease addressing the mission of NINDS. The program will target graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the beginning of their research projects who started using one of these imaging technologies and want to acquire practical “know-how” skills and gain exposure to other imaging technologies applicable to neurovascular studies. Our primary goal is to create an innovative educational program using neurophotonics as an enabler to understand neurovascular brain function in health and disease. This program will also contribute to broad dissemination of neurophotonics technologies, increase visibility of these tools within the neuroscience community, and promote the emerging interdisciplinary field of neurophotonics and the deliverables of the BRAIN Initiative. The program alumni will fill an acute nation-wide need for neuroscience investigators skilled in state- of-the-art neurophotonics technologies. In addition, we expect the key aspects of our innovative training approach to be translated to other interdisciplinary graduate and postgraduate education programs at BU and beyond. Our best practices and measured impacts of experiential learning will be disseminated to peer institutions and to graduate education stakeholders. Our primary goal is to create an innovative educational program using neurophotonics as an enabler to understand neurovascular brain function in health and disease. This program will also contribute to broad dissemination of neurophotonics technologies, increase visibility of these tools within the neuroscience community, and promote the emerging interdisciplinary field of neurophotonics and the deliverables of the BRAIN Initiative. The program alumni will fill an acute nation-wide need for neuroscience investigators skilled in state- of-the-art neurophotonics technologies. In addition, we expect the key aspects of our innovative training approach to be translated to other interdisciplinary graduate and postgraduate education programs at BU and beyond. Our best practices and measured impacts of experiential learning will be disseminated to peer institutions and to graduate education stakeholders.