Dear AFNI community,
On behalf of the ISMRM Brain Function Study Group, we are pleased to invite you to our upcoming virtual meeting, taking place on 30 July 2025, from 1:30-3:00 pm UTC. The session will focus on:
Studying Brain Function in Fetuses, Newborns and Infants.
We have the privilege of hosting a distinguished panel of speakers and moderators, who are world leaders in the study of early brain development using advanced neuroimaging techniques. Please find the event flyer attached.
The agenda for the event includes 3 talks followed by a panel discussion.
Invited speakers:
Dr. Kevin Cook. Research Faculty, Developing Brain Institute, Children’s National Hospital; Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Title: Promises and challenges of fetal fMRI: A window into the developing brain
Abstract: The fetal period represents the most significant period of brain development, in which an entire central nervous system develops in a period of 40 weeks. By the neonatal period, the brain has undergone significant structural and functional brain development such that proto-functional functional networks that mirror childhood and adult networks are already present at birth. Until recently, however, our ability to capture changes over gestation were limited to postmortem studies and low-resolution in vivo imaging which have not been able to fully capture the brain’s functional development during this period where the foundational building blocks are being lain for all future development. With the advent of fetal functional MRI, however, we are now able to assess the developing functional connections during gestation to characterize typical development in this rapidly changing time as well as assess how illness and disease perturb this development. This talk will focus on the application of fetal fMRI to study early brain development as well as elucidate work on how conditions such as stress and congenital diseases have direct impacts on developmental trajectories even before birth.
Prof. Christopher Smyser, Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, Radiology, Psychiatry, and Neurosurgery, Washington University in St. Louis
Title: Using neonatal connectivity to predict childhood outcomes in preterm children
Abstract: Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) offers great promise as an investigational tool for early cerebral development, providing new insights into the maturation of the brain’s developing functional architecture. Investigations employing rs-fMRI to study term- and prematurely-born infant populations have demonstrated key differences between these groups across emerging forms of the functional networks known to be critical for subsequent neurodevelopmental and psychiatric outcomes during childhood and adolescence. These results reflect the complex interplay of evolving structural and functional architecture present during early brain development and provide a foundation for expanded investigation to further define normative findings within these populations and to identify and characterize the role of these networks across normal and aberrant outcomes.
Prof. Tomoki Arichi, Professor of Perinatal Neuroscience, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London
Title: Insights into emerging brain function: the dHCP and beyond
Abstract: Functional MRI offers a non-invasive whole-brain window into the brain's function during the critically important period around birth. This function can be altered both by genetic and external influences, and can potential adapt following injuries and adverse exposures. Characterising the normative trajectory of functional development and its potential alterations has been the goal of several recent large scale cohort studies across the world. However imaging the developing brain poses numerous practical, acquisition, processing and analysis challenges that require specific approaches to address due to the constantly growing and changing developing brain. The goal of the developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP) was to comprehensively map the anatomy, structure and function of the human brain from 20 weeks gestation to 4 weeks after birth, producing an open science resource of 1200 fetal and infant data sets. This involved a comprehensive approach to developing and optimising data collection and processing, including coil development, novel acquisition sequences, image reconstruction, and processing pipelines. Whilst the resulting data has profounded numerous new insights into how function emerges in the developing brain, essential but unresolved questions remain about the underlying nature of the BOLD signal itself in development - which beyond the dHCP we have started to explore with multi-modal (EEG-fMRI) and ultra-high field (7T) high resolution fMRI.
Moderators:
- Prof. Petra Hüppi, Child Development Disorders, Faculty of Medicine, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève.
- Prof. Damien Fair, Institute of Child Development, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School.
Zoom Details:
https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/97673528461?pwd=toRcD8VkTf4b5BmYOkuXr4qitiQlXg.1
Passcode:925241
We warmly invite to join this exciting session, which promises to provide rich insights and stimulate engaging discussion on this important topic.
Looking forward to your participation!
With best regards,
On behalf of the ISMRM Brain Function Study Group Committee
You are invited to a Zoom webinar!
When: Jul 30, 2025 01:00 PM Azores
Topic: ISMRM Brain Function Study Group Virtual Meeting
Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android:
https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/97673528461?pwd=toRcD8VkTf4b5BmYOkuXr4qitiQlXg.1
Passcode:925241
Phone one-tap:
+351308810988,,97673528461# Portugal
+351211202618,,97673528461# Portugal
Join via audio:
+351 308 810 988 Portugal
+351 211 202 618 Portugal
+351 308 804 188 Portugal
Webinar ID: 976 7352 8461
International numbers available: https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/u/adYkfGazyt
Join from an H.323/SIP room system:
H.323:
144.195.19.161 (US West)
206.247.11.121 (US East)
115.114.131.7 (India Mumbai)
115.114.115.7 (India Hyderabad)
159.124.15.191 (Amsterdam Netherlands)
159.124.47.249 (Germany)
159.124.104.213 (Australia Sydney)
159.124.74.212 (Australia Melbourne)
170.114.180.219 (Singapore)
64.211.144.160 (Brazil)
159.124.132.243 (Mexico)
159.124.168.213 (Canada Toronto)
159.124.196.25 (Canada Vancouver)
170.114.194.163 (Japan Tokyo)
147.124.100.25 (Japan Osaka)
Meeting ID: 976 7352 8461
Passcode: 925241
SIP: 97673528461@zoomcrc.com
Passcode: 925241