In order to study the Basal Ganglia in relation to cortical areas, the used fMRI protocol has to be carefully adjusted with respect to its region of interest and the necessary signal under-sampling. We performed a study at a field strength of 7 Tesla investigating the dependence of the detected signal on the MR parameters employed.
We performed laminar fMRI during a delayed match-to-sample task and varied working memory load and the requirement for a motor response. We found layer specific univariate and multivariate effects.
We work on improving reliability of quantitative parametric maps by correcting for rigid head motion and B0-fluctuations measured during acquisition at 7T as well as by employing general function approximators to correct for artifacts of unknown origin at 3T.
A recent fMRI study showed layer-specific responses in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during a working memory task. We attempted to replicate the original findings using newly acquired data and a fully automated analysis.
Columnar structures in the human visual cortex are studied using high-resolution fMRI methods in order to localize the actual source of neural processing more precisely.
In this project, we studied cortical myelin in living humans at the spatial scale of cortical columns using high-resolution quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods at 7 T.
We linked the effective transverse relaxation rate R2* with dopaminergic cell densities and iron concentrations in nigrosome 1 by combining 3D quantitative iron histology, post mortem ultra-high resolution MRI, tissue deironing, and analytical modeling approaches.
We investigate the relationship between quantitative MRI (qMRI) at different cortical depths and cell counts, gene expression and white matter connections in the brain in order to provide novel biomarkers for tracking neurodegenerative diseases.
Robust U-fibre connectivity mapping can be achieved in vivo in the early visual processing stream using combined diffusion weighted imaging and functional retinotopy
We explore spatially resolved lipid imaging using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) as a method for validating MRI-based myelin biomarkers.
In this project, we investigate the brains of wild chimpanzees who died of natural causes at different developmental stages using high-resolution quantitative MRI and histology.
Using a field strength of 7 Tesla, the "Arterial Blood Contrast" (ABC), which is based on the Magnetization Transfer effect, could be measured with an isotropic spatial resolution of 1.5 mm in combination with a conventional functional MRI contrast.