[Brainmap] Taner Akkin, PhD; Title: Brain imaging and mapping using serial optical coherence scanner

Wednesday, January 21, 2015 - 12:00
Seminar room 2204 149 13th St., Charlestown Navy Yard

Wednesday, 1/21/2015 at 12:00 noon

Taner Akkin, PhD

Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Minnesota
 
Title: Brain imaging and mapping using serial optical coherence scanner

Large-scale brain imaging and mapping at microscopic resolution is feasible with intrinsic optical contrasts.  Serial optical coherence scanner, which combines a multi-contrast optical coherence tomography and a tissue slicer, distinguishes white matter and gray matter and visualizes nerve fiber tracts that are as small as a few tens of micrometers.  The retardance contrast due to axonal birefringence highlights the location and myelination of nerve fibers, while the axis orientation contrast indicates the fiber alignment in the plane.  Our current efforts are directed to extract the inclination angle of the fibers to obtain the 3D orientations.  Development of the scanner will potentially reveal biomarkers to indicate disease onset and progression, which can be probed by noninvasive MRI studies at relatively low resolution and support development of therapeutics in future.