Multi-modal neuroimaging for understanding brain structure and function

This talk will be on multi-modal neuroimaging for understanding brain structure and function. Imaging technologies are shaping clinical research and practice given their non-invasive nature. The human body is very complex, structurally and functionally and the brain is arguably the most hidden part of the body. That our understating of the human brain has advanced more in the last three decades than in the rest of human history is a well-known fact and this seems to be a consequence of key technological discoveries as has occurred in other fields of science in the course of history. Neuroimaging enabled us to unconceal the brain thanks to computer technology. It is not surprising that MRI was rated by general practitioners in the USA as the principal contributor to medical practice. A major effort of current neuroscience is to map the neural systems that underlie human brain function. This ambitious effort relies principally on two modalities of MRI, namely structural and functional neuroimaging. These advances are expected to advance our understanding of human brain structure and function as well as of human behavior. Importantly, they will improve clinical practice especially in implementing such neuropsychiatric and neurosurgical procedures and treatments as deep brain stimulation (DBS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). In this presentation there will be discussed the impact of multimodal neuroimaging technology in basic neuroscience of brain circuits and also in clinical neuroscience with specific example applications of DBS and TMS in enabling the practice of precision neuropsychiatry and neurosurgery.