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In vivo brain activity imaging is a key to understanding the mechanisms of complex behavior. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging records brain-wide mechanisms, but at the cost of subject sedation which excludes behavioral and cognitive experiments and raises questions about modification of neuronal metabolism and cerebral blood flow during anesthesia. Functional Ultrasound Imaging based on ultrasensitive Doppler Imaging is a powerful new tool for measuring brain activation with high spatiotemporal sampling (80µm, 1ms). During this project, we will extend the capabilities of functional Ultrasound to 4D Brain imaging for the study of the rat brain visual system.
To address the issue of real time 3D whole brain imaging, the concept of 2D Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging is extended to 3D Ultrafast Volumetric Imaging. A 1024 channel ultrasound platform is used to drive a 32x32 matrix phased array (0.3mm pitch, 9MHz). Ultrasound plane wave compounding (12 angles, PRF=500) is used to insonify the region of interest and volumetric images are reconstructed using a 3D GPU-based beamformer. In order to provide 4D movies of whole brain neuronal activity, new plane wave imaging sequences need to be implemented on the ultrafast research platform of Langevin Institute.
The recruited postdoc should rely on an expertise in ultrasonic beamforming using plane wave transmisssions and a strong knowledge of Blood flow imaging using ultrasound. This is precisely the expertise of Dr. Mafalda Correia which perfectly fits with our needs on the ERC synergy project.