欢迎参加学术报告！
题目：Imaging the Sub-cortical Pain Control Networks
报告人：Yazhuo Kong (Ph.D.)
时间地点：2011-01-06, 15:00, 北师大认知神经科学与学习国家重点实验室脑成像中心三楼小会议室
主持人：臧玉峰
Yazhuo Kong (Ph.D.)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
PaIN Group & FMRIB Centre
Oxford University
John Radcliffe Hospital
Headington, Oxford
OX3 9DU, United Kingdom
Tel: 01865 222738
http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/pain
Pain is a conscious experience, an interpretation of the nociceptive input influenced by memories, emotional, pathological, genetic, and cognitive factors. Pain-associated regions are collectively known as the “pain matrix” - cortical areas (S1, S2, thalamus, insula, ACC and PFC) and sub-cortical areas (brainstem and spinal cord). To fully appreciate the cortical representation of pain you need to understand the sub-cortical processes that can modulate this perception. The spinal cord is the first relay site in the transmission of sensory information from the periphery to the brain. Descending systems originating in the brainstem exert top-down modulation of nociceptive input at the spinal level. However these are challenging regions for fMRI. The main difficulties are the small anatomical size; magnetic susceptibility differences (i.e. bone/disc interfaces); physiological noise - primarily cardiac and respiratory related; motion and flow artifacts due to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pulsation.
In this talk, I will briefly discuss the concept of the pain brain imaging. I will then discuss the technical developments of brainstem and spinal fMRI, most importantly, physiological noise modelling methods. Finally I will discuss two experiments we have run, including 1) laterality and modality experiment using thermal and punctate stimuli; 2) attention and distraction experiment using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task.
Biographical notes:
Dr. Yazhuo Kong is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the pain group, FMRIB centre, University of Oxford. He is currently working on fMRI applications to pain. His other research interests include fMRI signal processing and analysis, functional connectivity, biophysical modelling, functional imaging in psychiatric disorders and spinal cord imaging. Previously he received his B.ENG from the University of Science and Technology of China and PhD in Neuroimaging Signal Processing and Modelling from the University of Sheffield.