Mapping blood brain barrier permeability- towards a novel biomarker for psychiatric disorders

Research into brain diseases has until recently focused on neurons, but in the last several decades, blood vessels have taken a new spotlight. When blood vessels are damaged, substances can leak from the blood into the brain. Such leak can affect memory and mental health, but surprisingly, its impact on psychiatric disorders has yet to be studied in detail, largely due to lack of technology to map leaky blood vessels in living patients. Recent advances in MRI technology and computer processing power offer new avenues for solving this issue, allowing us to track blood flow and identify affected brain regions and their role in brain disorders.
In this project, we are developing novel computational methods to automatically analyze brain scans and produce detailed mapping of the regions affected by blood leakage. We are also creating algorithms to see whether leakage corresponds to abnormal patterns of brain activity. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Steven Beyea

Student:

Lyn Kamintsky

Partner:

EMAGIX Inc

Discipline:

Medicine

Sector:

Medical devices

University:

Program: