B-REAL

Engineering Special Seminar | Nan Li: Hemogenetic fMRI: Imaging Neurochemical Events in Rodent Brains by Engineering Hemodynamics

Time: 14:50-15:50, Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Venue: E10-304, Yungu Campus

Host: Dr. Jian Yang, Chair Professor, Westlake University

Language: English

Speaker：

Prof. Nan Li

Assistant Professor

Medical School

University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center

Biography:

Dr. Nan Li received her B.S. and M.S. from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, and her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, both in Biomedical Engineering. After postdoctoral training at MIT, in 2021, she joined University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, as a tenure-track Assistant Professor, an endowed Thomas O. Hicks Scholar in Medical Research, in the Advanced Imaging Research Center, the Department of Neuroscience, and O’Donnel Brain Institute at UT Southwestern. Her general research interest is to develop and implement novel neuroimaging techniques to solve brain science problems, especially mechanisms for the reward, learning, and memory. Nan was selected as 20 McGovern Rising Stars at MIT in 2020. Nan is the recipient of the Harvard Chinese Life Sciences Distinguished Research Award, the Stanley Fahn Research Fellowship, Women in Bio Robbie Melton Scholarship Award, the UT System Rising STARs Award, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Award, Welch Foundation Award, and King Foundation Award.

Abstract:

As the computational center controlling behaviors and cognitive functions, the brain consists of densely wired neurons relaying and integrating information through electrochemical signal transmission. Conventional Blood-Oxygen-Leve-Dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) have revolutionized the field of brain science. However, it is based on the tight neurovascular coupling mechanism in the brain, provides indirect measurements of general brain activation, and lacks molecular cellular specificity. In this talk, I will introduce a new type of molecular functional MRI technique – hemogentic fMRI, that can reveal molecular events in living rodent brains based on engineering hemodynamics.

Contact:

Bing Qu， School of Engineering

qubing@westlake.edu.cn