Multicontrast multiscale analysis of functional brain networks - MULTIFUN

[mariaguidi]

Project info

Title: Multicontrast multiscale analysis of functional brain networks - MULTIFUN

Project lead: Maria Guidi, Giulio Iannelli

Project Description:
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is the most used technique to study brain function. Correlations between neural signals from distinct cerebral regions can be rigorously investigated via network theory, yielding a sophisticated understanding of neuronal organization and functional emergence. Of particular interest is delineating higher-level attributes in brain networks, as advanced cognitive processes are believed to arise from this intricate, hierarchical configuration. Nevertheless, the brain's multiscale organization—marked by scale-specific structural modules—remains incompletely framed, partly due to the lack of robust coarse-graining methods able to unveil this modular architecture.

For what concerns neuroimaging data, the prototypical contrast used in fMRI is BOLD (blood oxygenation level dependent), which is great but not quantitative and also a bit spatially unspecific. In this project we will obtain brain networks using three (!!) different functional contrasts, namely BOLD, VASO (related to cerebral blood volume) and ASL (related to cerebral blood flow). VASO and ASL signal changes give information on quantitative parameters and are more directly connected to brain metabolism.
What insights can be derived regarding brain functional organization from various contrasts when subjected to analyses employing cutting-edge network theory techniques?

A tentative general roadmap for the project is the following (to be split into sub-tasks).

1. Extract network information from resting-state BOLD data.
2. Extract network information from respiratory-modulated BOLD data, and compare with resting-state.
3. Extract network information from respiratory-modulated ASL and VASO data, and compare with the other contrasts.

Data to use:
Datasets from 10 healthy participants acquired on a Siemens MAGNETOM 3T; for each participant, ASL, BOLD, and VASO timecourses will be provided.

Goals:

• Validate the use of the BOLD contrast under different conditions (resting-state and respiratory-modulated) for studying networks
• Obtain network information from ASL and VASO contrasts
• Compare structures at different relevant scales the different network
• Extract multiscale organization of the three different contrast methodologies
• Assess how the different contrast information uniquely impact the topology of functional networks

Skills:
This project will be at the interface between neuroimaging and network analysis. We welcome people with and without previous experience in those topics. Keep in mind that the main focus will be on network analysis and not on the processing of functional images.

Tools/Software/Methods to Use:
MATLAB, python, Multiscale Community Detection

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