UT Neuroscientists Bring Brain Imaging Research to TIRR

Researchers from The University of Texas Medical School at Houston will soon be conducting functional imaging research in a 3,700 square-foot space at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research in the Texas Medical Center. The laboratory will open and begin working with patients in March.

"This research has been going on at UT for several years," said E. Ashley Smith, president and CEO of TIRR Systems. "With the move to TIRR, the work will now be related to central nervous system injury, which is prevalent in many of our TIRR patients."

UT-Houston’s imaging studies of brain reorganization could someday lead to a different type of rehabilitation therapy, said Dr. Andrew Papanicolaou, professor and director of the division of clinical neuroscience, which includes the functional neuroimaging laboratory, in the department of neurosurgery at the UT-Houston Medical School.

A new upgraded laboratory will be housed in TIRR’s Moursund building. The area will hold a Magnes Biomagnetometer System device, which is en route from Germany and will be assembled here. The imaging equipment, the computers that support it, and the entire division of clinical neuroscience, consisting of a 12-person staff, will now be in one location.

The UT-Houston Medical School group uses the newest of the functional imaging methods, Magnetoencephalography, or MEG, in addressing the issue of brain reorganization for basic sensory and linguistic functions. The work involves adults and children with a wide variety of conditions, ranging from trauma, tumors and epilepsy to dyslexia.

"In all cases, clear evidence of reorganization of the brain mechanisms demonstrates the utility of MEG to noninvasively study the issue of plasticity in the developing or the recovering brain," Dr. Papanicolaou said.

Using language as an example, Dr. Papanicolaou said when a person is exposed to a series of word stimuli, either spoken or written, the MEG measures the magnetic fields emanating from the brain. The field is so small that it is almost impossible to measure or see it. But by shielding the subject or patient in a room to protect them from external, environmental electromagnetic waves that interfere with the magnetic brain activity, the highly sensitive MEG can measure these magnetic fields coming from the person’s brain. The measurements show when there is a change, and what kind of change takes place in the brain activity pattern in the process of recovery from all types of brain lesions.

Another example is the examination of a child with a reading problem, such as dyslexia. Using the MEG, scientists can see if the brain is processing words the same way it does for children who have no problem reading. The researchers, Dr. Papanicolaou noted, can actually track the message as it goes through the brain areas and tell why one child reads more efficiently than another.

"We look forward to a collaboration with the rehabilitation experts at TIRR. The use of our imaging technology may show what the results of different therapies are," Dr. Papanicolaou said. "This opportunity for synergy does not exist anywhere else, and we are excited about the prospect."

In the near future, an additional 1,800 square feet of space at TIRR will be allocated for an MRI that will be available to UT-Houston researchers. An MRI is an imaging device that can recreate high-resolution brain structure images.

Several grants from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, National Science Foundation, and private funding from the Vivian L. Smith Center for Neurologic Research support the UT-Houston Medical School imaging research studies.

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