THALAMODEL · Multimodal, high-resolution modeling of the thalamus for neuroimaging studies: application to dyslexia
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2015-06-01 → 2017-05-31
- EU contribution
- €170,122
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Multimodal, high-resolution modeling of the thalamus for neuroimaging studies: application to dyslexia
The thalamus is a cerebral structure that plays the role of main relay station of the human brain. It is involved in a number of important functions such as language and regulation of consciousness and sleep. These functions are distributed across dozens of thalamic nuclei, which are connected to the rest of the brain very differently. However, most neuroimaging software tools still consider the thalamus as a whole. The goal of this project was to build a map of the human thalamus at the nucleus level, using high quality, ex vivo imaging data (i.e., from dead brains). Since subject motion is not a problem in ex vivo imaging, we scanned the samples for long periods of time in a MRI scanner to obtain images with high resolution. Also, we performed histological analysis of the tissue, i.e., sectioning, staining and high-resolution digitization in order to see boundaries between thalamic nuclei that would otherwise be invisible – even in high resolution MRI. The thalamic nuclei where manually delineated by an expert neuroanatomist on the high resolution ex vivo images. We then used these delineations to build an atlas (i.e., a probabilistic map of anatomy) of the thalamus. Using software tools developed during this project, the built atlas can be used to analyze in vivo brain MRI scans (i.e., from living subjects) and study the thalamic nuclei in living people. The atlas and companion tool will be made publicly available through the widespread neuroimaging package FreeSurfer (over 20,000 users worldwide), and will allow scientists around the world to disentangle the contribution of the different thalamic nuclei to the effects observed in their studies. For example, the tool will enable us to test whether the effects of dyslexia on the left thalamus reported in previous studies are confined to two nuclei known as the LGN and MGN or shared by other nuclei as well. Analyses like these are not possible with current tools, which consider the thalamus as a whole.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The thalamus is a brain structure that is responsible for important functions (e.g., sensory systems, sleep, the motor system, spoken language) which are distributed over its 12 nuclei . While recent advances in MRI technology have made it possible to image the thalamic nuclei in vivo, the lack of specific computational tools to analyze the images forces most research studies to either treat the thalamus as a single structure (limiting the spatial specificity of the analysis) or to rely on the excruciating process of manually labeling the data. Since very few sites currently possess the anatomical expertise and staffing resources to carry out studies based on manual delineations, the lack of tools to analyze MRI data of the thalamus is hampering progress in different branches of neuroscience.Here we present an interdisciplinary project to build tools to automatically analyze the thalamic nuclei in MRI data. The tools will be based on a statistical atlas of the thalamus built upon ultra-high resolution MRI and histological data from autopsy samples. We will use the tools in a study of the relation between thalamus and dyslexia, where they promise to increase our understanding of the pathology by testing which nuclei are affected and to what extent. In addition, the tools will be distributed as part of the software package FreeSurfer, allowing its over 10,000 worldwide users to carry out cognitive neuroscience experiments at the nucleus level, and to discover new imaging biomarkers of other diseases related to the thalamus, e.g. Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS and ALS.This project will allow the host to acquire knowledge in medical image analysis from the applicant and to establish collaborations with Harvard and Oxford (host of the proposed secondment). The project will also expand the applicant’s research network and train him in areas (ex vivo MRI, psycholinguistic studies) that complement his image analysis skills, preparing him for a future faculty position.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- BCBL BASQUE CENTER ON COGNITION BRAIN AND LANGUAGE · San SebastianCoordinatorSpain
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/654911
- http://www.jeiglesias.com/thalamodel
- https://web.archive.org/web/20200901181843/https://sites.google.com/site/jeiglesias/
Data: CORDIS, © European Union