Neurosensory Research Foundation

Ultrasound is not only used as an imaging technique but targeted pulses of ultrasound can be used as a highly accurate treatment for a range of brain diseases, ...for which there were previously only limited treatment options. Over the last few years, several revolutionary techniques of this kind have been developed, primarily in Toronto but also at MedUni Vienna. The Viennese technique improves brain functions by externally activating neurons that are still functional. Improvements can be expected in various neuropsychiatric brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, and neuralgia. See more

Uncharted Territory When we think of the brain, we typically conjure images of a walnut-like ball made up of folds and cervices. But located deep within the squ...ishy exterior is the often-overlooked subcortex, a collection of small structures that act as relay stations for all information going to the brain. Despite their vital role in our central nervous system, since sub-cortical structures are so small it has been very difficult for scientists to identify them using traditional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) maps. However, this process may now be easier thanks to a new open-source algorithm developed by team of scientists. The method can automatically identify and label up to 17 sub-cortical structures in MRI images, shown here with each structure represented by a different colour. The team hope that this algorithm will encourage other researchers to study in more detail the largely uncharted territory that is the human subcortex. Written by Gaëlle Coullon Image from work by Pierre-Louis Bazin and colleagues Integrative Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience research unit, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0) Published in eLife, December 2020 Originally on http://www.bpod.mrc.ac.uk/archive/2021/2/5 You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr

Signal to Sight Vision is an extraordinary sense, in which light reflected from surfaces is absorbed by light-sensitive cells, or photoreceptors, ultimately ena...bling the brain to reconstruct detailed scenes. In the eye’s retina, activated photoreceptors send electrical signals, via interneurons, to over 20 types of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Known as feature detectors, RGCs collate these signals to respond to different visual stimuli, then send information to the brain. To investigate this process, scientists used isolated retinas from macaques, primates with a similar visual system to ours, to record electrical signals from hundreds of RGCs as they responded to various images. Building a model of how RGCs interpret visual information, they were able to reconstruct pictures from patterns of RGC signals, as in the example above (original top left, with reconstructions from seven retinas). Understanding how RGCs operate will be useful for designing artificial systems hoping to alleviate some forms of blindness. Written by Emmanuelle Briolat Image from work by Nora Brackbill and colleagues Department of Physics, and Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Published in eLife, November 2020 Originally on http://www.bpod.mrc.ac.uk/archive/2021/2/2 You can also follow BPoD on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook

Detecting and decoding activity in brain regions associated with visual processing allowed researchers to determine what a person sees.