My talk on layer-fMRI in the Brain Space Initiative Speaker Series.

Peter Bandettini • November 7, 2020

The BrainSpace Initiative is an outreach program that allows researchers to present their work, currently on non-invasive technique. It is also a meeting space to discuss papers and issues. I was invited to both be a member of the advisory committee and to give a talk. I decided to present a talk on all the work on layer fMRI has come out of my lab over the past 4 years. Here it is:

Layer fMRI, requiring high field, advanced pulse sequences, and sophisticated processing methods, has emerged in the last decade. The rate of layer fMRI papers published has grown sharply as the delineation of mesoscopic scale functional organization has shown success in providing insight into human brain processing. Layer fMRI promises to move beyond being able to simply identify where and when activation is taking place as inferences made from the activation depth in the cortex will provide detailed directional feedforward and feedback related activity. This new knowledge promises to bridge invasive measures and those typically carried out on humans. In this talk, I will describe the challenges in achieving laminar functional specificity as well as possible approaches to data analysis for both activation studies and resting state connectivity. I will highlight our work demonstrating task-related laminar modulation of primary sensory and motor systems as well as layer-specific activation in dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex with a working memory task. Lastly, I will present recent work demonstrating cortical hierarchy in visual cortex using resting state connectivity laminar profiles.

The tipping point: From animal intelligence to human intelligence

By Eric Wong • July 20, 2022
There are many obvious things that we humans do to a much larger degree than other animals. We construct great civilizations, we create advanced technology, we use complex language, we make art and tell stories. How do our unique capabilities guide us in figuring out how our brains are different from those of other animals, if they are?

The Challenge of BWAS: Unknown Unknowns in Feature Space and Variance

By Peter Bandettini • July 4, 2022
The paper by Marek et al ( Reproducible brain-wide association studies require thousands of individuals, Nature, 602, 7902, pp 654-660, 2022 ) came out recently, and caused a bit of a stir in the field for a couple of reasons: First, the title, while an accurate description of the findings of the paper, is bold and lacking just enough qualifiers to quell immediate questions. “Does this imply that fMRI or other measures used in BWAS are lacking intrinsic sensitivity?” “Is this a general statement about all studies now and into the future?” “Is fMRI doomed to require thousands of individuals for all studies?” The answers to all these questions is “no,” as becomes clear on reading the paper.

The Unique Relationship Between fMRI and MRI Scanner Vendors

By Peter Bandettini • December 16, 2020
One defining and often overlooked aspect of fMRI as a field is that it is has been riding on the back of and directly benefitting from the massive clinical MRI industry. Even though fMRI has not yet hit the clinical mainstream – as there are no widely used standard clinical practices that include fMRI, it has reaped many benefits from the clinical impact of “standard” MRI. Just about every clinical scanner can be used for fMRI with minimal modification, as most vendors have rudimentary fMRI packages that are sold. Just imagine if MRI was only useful for fMRI – how much slower fMRI methods and applications would have developed and how much more expensive and less advanced MRI scanners would be. Without a thriving clinical MRI market only a few centers would be able to afford scanners that would likely be primitive compared to the technology that exists today.