[Brainmap]: Rita Schmidt, PhD - Electric properties of biological tissues and materials: new perspective on functional MRI of the brain and designing MRI-viable metamaterials.

Thursday, January 18, 2018 - 15:00 to 16:00
149 13th Street (Building 149), Room 2204

Rita Schmidt, PhD
Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot, Israel

Abstract:
My talk will focus on two topics, linked by the interactions of RF fields inside the MR scanner. First, I will share an on-going research on the mapping of electrical properties, aimed at studying functional activity in the human brain. This includes a new computational technique for estimating electrical properties from an MR experiment alongside the implementation of fast acquisition techniques. I will also show a correlation between changes in the electrical conductivity and basic visual or motor activation paradigms. Next, I will discuss my second topic, the design of new hybrid metamaterials for MRI with the potential to effectively "zoom-in" into specific brain regions. By combining high permittivity dielectric materials with conducting metasurfaces, the structures produced are both flexible and compact. This novel concept enables MRI-viable metamaterials that can be integrated into the tight setup of clinical MRI examinations and boost the sensitivity. In-vivo results from ultrahigh (7T) fields will be presented.