WEEKEND EDUCATIONAL COURSE
Functional MRI: Methods, Interpretation, and Applications

Organizers: Peter A. Bandettini, Ph.D. and David G. Norris, Ph.D.
Skill Level: Intermediate - Advanced

Sunday, 4 May 2008

Overview:

The goal of this half-day course is to provide a perspective and practical information about the latest advances in fMRI hardware, methodology, development, and an area of intense fMRI research, time series fluctuations. Experts in each of these areas will present complementary forty minute lectures.

Educational Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

  • Explain the tradeoffs and practical issues involved with fMRI at 7T;
  • Describe new fMRI pulse sequences and principles behind their utility;
  • Describe the sources of variability of the fMRI signal change and methods for removing this variability;
  • Extract neuronally relevant time series fluctuations;
  • Explain respiration and cardiac related artifactual fluctuations;
  • Interpret published fMRI results;
  • Design and execute fMRI experiments involving assessment of time series fluctuations; and
  • Describe the utility of independent component analysis and it's applications in the contex of fMRI time series fluctuations.

    Audience Description:

    This course is designed for the intermediate to advanced fMRI user and/or developer.
         
    8:00 High Field and Parallel Imaging Lawrence L. Wald, Ph.D.
    8:40 FMRI Pulse Sequences and Image Quality Gary H. Glover, Ph.D.
    9:20 FMRI Signal Interpretation and Calibration Thomas T. Liu, Ph.D.
    10:00 Break  
    10:00 - 10:15 Meet the Teachers  
         
    10:35 Fluctuations: Good and Bad Rasmus M. Birn, Ph.D.
    11:15 Bringing ICA, Fluctuations, and Classification to Bear on Clinical Diagnoses Vincent D. Calhoun, Ph.D.
    12:00 Adjournment