Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI)

The INI's Dr. Michael Bienkowski is giving a talk next week on how gene expression patterns can help define cell types in the hippocampus. Learn more and register here: https://usc.zoom.us/webi/register/WN_wUyOH9yTTUG0Pe-b548TDQ

Our 7Tesla MRI scanner is already changing lives, allowing physicians to find and treat brain tumors that are too small to see using less powerful machines. Hear from our director, Dr. Arthur Toga, and our in-house neuroradiologist, Dr. Vishal Patel, about how the technology works and what it means for patients.

"The Beautiful Brainstem," our probabilistic atlas of 23 major brainstem bundles, is featured by the BRAIN Initiative as one of the year's top entries in The Art of the BRAIN: Mapping the Mind contest. See the video & learn how our medical animator, Jim Stanis, created it: https://www.braininitiative.org//the-art-of-the-brain-map/

This is the last week to apply for our USC Master of Science in Neuroimaging and Informatics program's 2021-2022 academic year! Deadline is May 1. To learn more about the program or to apply, visit https://niin.usc.edu.

Later this week, the INI's Dr. Judy Pa is speaking at the 2021 NIH Alzheimer's Research Summit. The event happens once every 3 years and helps set the stage for priorities in AD research. Learn more about the summit here, including how to register:

Check out media coverage of Dr. Judy Pa's latest findings on the link between impaired blood flow, tau tangles, and amyloid in Alzheimer's disease. Her team found that lifestyle factors such as smoking and high blood pressure are a central part of Alzheimer's risk. The study, published Oct. 12 in the Journal of Neuroscience, also included the INI's director, Arthur W. Toga, Daniel Albrecht (lead author), Kay Jann, Lisette Isenberg, Teresa Monreal, and Joy Stradford. From US N...ews & World Report: https://www.usnews.com//poor-brain-blood-flow-might-spur-t And NPR (starting at 3:15): https://n.pr/3kgAmF2

Check out this article on Dr. Judy Pa's latest study, which provides new insight on the synergy between vascular dysfunction, tau and amyloid pathology, and cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. The study was published today in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Congratulations to Haoyu Lan, part of Dr. Farshid Sepehrband's group at the INI, for winning the joint first prize of the Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention's Super-MUDI challenge. The work used an adaptive machine learning framework to study diffusion MRI data

Our USC Master of Science in Neuroimaging and Informatics program is hosting a virtual Open House on Tuesday 10/20 at 3PM PDT! Learn about our curriculum, career paths, research opportunities, and student perspectives. Questions welcome. To register, email [email protected] (subject line: Open House).

INI researchers just published a new study on cortical folding in Communications Biology, a Nature journal. Their meta-analysis of more than 9,000 brain scans provides key insights into the genetic factors behind the cortex's structure, as well as differences between the brain's right and left hemispheres. More on our blog: https://bit.ly/33WgIaz

Scientists have found the first hints of a roadmap of the cell types implicated in six major brain disorders. The findings, published in JAMA Psychiatry, were made possible by Dr. Paul Thompson's collaborative ENIGMA network, which conducts some of the world's largest brain imaging studies. More on our blog: https://bit.ly/300ftWR

Today, on World Alzheimer's Day, nearly 6 million Americans and an estimated 50 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer's disease, a condition that interferes with much of what makes us feel human--independence, memories, relationships. The INI is part of a relentless collective push to end that suffering. Some of our recent projects are featured here.

Congratulations to Dr. Mike Bienkowski for his promotion to Assistant Professor of Physiology & Neuroscience at the INI! He's also the new director of our Center for Integrative Connectomics & holds a joint appointment at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute

Researchers at the INI, led by Dr. Julio Villalón-Reina, conducted the largest-ever diffusion imaging study of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, a genetic disorder that is the strongest known genetic risk factor for schizophrenia. Learn about their findings from HSC News: https://hscnews.usc.edu/large-scale-neuroimaging-study-seek

Every year, CT scans in the U.S. cause about 50,000 cancer cases. The INI's Danny JJ Wang, PhD, is working on a new method that reduces the radiation dose patients receive by nearly 75%--without compromising image quality. Read more about his team's recent breakthroughs: https://hscnews.usc.edu/researchers-at-the-keck-school-are-

Our 7T scanner just became the first to receive accreditation in neuroimaging from the American College of Radiology - the "gold standard" in imaging accreditation. This helps assure patients and referring physicians that our equipment is safe and effective. Learn more on our blog: https://bit.ly/31mwXNY

Our hope is that this project can also prepare us for the next pandemic, says Dominique Duncan, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at the INI. We’ll have the infrastructure in place to enable researchers to aggregate data and perform analysis right at the onset. Learn more about our newest data archive, which stores and manages COVID-19 data from researchers around the world.

When COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, the INI's Dominique Duncan, PhD, was inspired to use her skills to help meet the urgent need for data aggregation and management. Now, she's leveraging the INI's resources to build COVID-ARC, an archive for data collected on the disease by researchers around the world. Learn more about the new project, funded by the National Science Foundation, from HSC News: https://hscnews.usc.edu/scientists-launch-data-archive-to-b