#virtual brain

Virtual Brain Could Aid Surgical Planning

Researchers have simulated neural activity based on the unique structural architecture of individual brain tumor patients using a platform called The Virtual Brain.

In another installment in our "Zoomposium Series" on the topic of "Brain Research", my colleague Axel Stöcker of the "Blog der großen Fragen" and I had the great honor and pleasure of conducting an interview with the very well-known and renowned German medical doctor and neuroscientist Professor Dr. Petra Ritter.

In this context, Ms. Ritter became a co-founder and leader of the co-design project "The Virtual Brain", which is a component of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and is "a neuroinformatics platform for simulating whole brain networks using biologically realistic connectivity".

She is leading the development of a virtual research environment as a collaborative research platform for sensitive health data and head of the "German National Neuroscience Research Infrastructure Initiative (NFDI-Neuroscience)" and involved in the development of the "Health Data Cloud EBRAINS".

Petra Ritter has been Johanna Quandt Professor and Head of the Section for Brain Simulation at the Department of Neurology with Experimental Neurology at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin since 2017.

There, Professor Ritter and her team are involved in the "Simulation of Brains".

More at: https://philosophies.de/index.php/2023/09/17/die-simulation-von-gehirnen/

Upgrade for Virtual Brain Cell

This latest model created a virtual version of brain cells known as Purkinje cells. These large nerve cells are found in the brain's cerebellum, where they help control the accurate movement of the body.

A virtual brain helps decrypt epilepsy

Researchers at CNRS, INSERM, Aix-Marseille University and AP-HM have just created a virtual brain that can reconstitute the brain of a person affected by epilepsy for the first time. From this work we understand better how the disease works and can also better prepare for surgery. These results are published in Neuroimage, on July 28, 2016.                                

Worldwide, one percent of the population suffers from epilepsy. The disease affects individuals differently, so personalized diagnosis and treatment are important. Currently we have few ways to understand the pathology's mechanisms of action, and mainly use visual interpretation of an MRI and electroencephalogram. This is especially difficult because 50% of patients do not present anomalies visible in MRI, so the cause of their epilepsy is unknown.

Researchers have succeeded for the first time in developing a personalized virtual brain, by designing a base "template" and adding individual patient information, such as the specific way the brain's regions are organized and connected in each individual. Mathematical models that cause cerebral activity can be tested on the virtual brain. In this way, scientists have been able to reproduce the place where epilepsy seizures initiate and how they propagate. This brain therefore has real value in predicting how seizures occur in each patient, which could lead to much more precise diagnosis.

V.K. Jirsa, T. Proix, D. Perdikis, M.M. Woodman, H. Wang, J. Gonzalez-Martinez, C. Bernard, C. Bénar, M. Guye, P. Chauvel, F. Bartolomei, The Virtual Epileptic Patient: Individualized whole-brain models of epilepsy spread, NeuroImage, Available online 28 July 2016, ISSN 1053-8119, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.049

The Virtual Brain: reconstruction of brain regions and where they are connected. The green cubes indicate the center of brain regions that are connected. Credit: INS UMR1106 INSERM/AMU   

Artistic expression took on an entire new definition this Saturday at Toronto's Nuit Blanche as one display used the audience's brainwaves to comprise an opera of the future. The art-meets-science-meets-technology display, My Digital Desire, used sensor-based wearable innovation and an electronic reproduction of the human mind to create an interactive, advanced and also sensational experience.

My Online Desire is a project led by the University of Toronto and also Baycrest, the worldwide leader in creating as well as offering advancements in growing old as well as brain wellness. Baycrest developed the software program which powers the desire, called the Digital Mind. The team partnered with Toronto-based startup InteraXon to make use of a model of their brain-sensing headband Muse.

"Each person in the encounter has their own headset on and their generating their own EEG indicators that is fed right into the Virutal Mind," clarified Dr. Randy McIntosh, Vice-President of Research at Baycrest Wellness Sciences. "The Online mind reads the indicators and also analyzes the activity into animations on the dome. It's a chat between the individual participants and also their mind, the Virtual Brain and the artists as well as it gets back in a cycle to create the desire sequence you view in the dome."

It was concerning twelve o'clock at night when myself and also twenty others were brought with the main entrance of a sixty-foot dome that rested near Queen's Park in Toronto. The dome had a spooky silent about it although that we were in the midst of one of the biggest art festivals in Canada. The radiant Online Mind rested close to the phase where the opera vocalist as well as her band stood wanting the action.

We were brought in over to a row of twenty chairs and also asked to rest in five groups of four, each encountering our own giant monitor. The volunteers asked us to wipe down our temples as well as earlobes. They put a tight fitting plastic headband around each of our heads and attached sensors to our ears. As soon as we were all arrangement, the MC informed us the video games were around to begin.

The first component of the encounter, called the Wake Pattern, is aimed at obtaining us made use of to focusing our brainwaves. We were strolled through a collection of cerebral video games which asked us to either concentrate or loosen up. In all of the games, our brainwaves were pictured on the screen in front of us as rounds of intense light, a different color committed per participant.

If we achieved success at either concentrating or loosening up at the cued time after that our sphere would certainly obtain more active as well as brighter. At the end of the workout our balls would release up into the center of the dome as fireworks. On display, we can additionally see who in the group was the winner from the elevation of the fireworks. I was rather squashed as my red fireball continuouslied struggle among the number although it felt I was red in the face from focusing so hard.

When the games were over it was time to apply a show as well as take part in the 2nd fifty percent of the encounter called The Desire Sequence. The MC discussed to the team that we would now be using our cumulative brainwaves to influence visualizations which would be forecasted on as well as all around the dome above us. These estimates would certainly change based upon the teams capacity to concentrate or relax together. Live artists would certainly after that interpret these visualizations to add a musical element to the show.

The combination of the weird imaginative visions rotating above and the female singers operatic voice translating them was rather effective. But a lot more so was the truth that the authors of this opera were the twenty of us linkeded up with Muse models all fantasizing this up with our accumulated brains.

Virtual brain research collaboration launched

A national collaboration in brain research was launched using a live link to the University of Otago from the Centre for Brain Research on the University of Auckland’s Grafton Campus on Friday.

In keeping with its status as a virtual Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE), the launch of Brain Research New Zealand (BRNZ) was able to involve academics and leaders from the University of Auckland, Otago University, the University of Canterbury and Auckland University of Technology.

This CoRE aims to unlock the mysteries of the ageing brain to develop treatments that improve the quality of life of senior New Zealanders.

Science and Innovation Minister Hon Steven Joyce spoke on the nine-year trajectory the CoRE partners had to go through to obtain the governmental funding of $29.8 million.

He also highlighted the importance of CoREs as a meaningful catalyst for increasing the quality of New Zealand based research through networking and collaboration across the tertiary sector.

“Brain Research New Zealand aims to promote innovative and imaginative collaborative research between leading research groups and clinicians and it’s exciting to be here for the official launch” said Mr Joyce.

Distinguished Professor Richard Faull from the Centre for Brain Research and Professor Cliffe Abrahams from the University of Otago co-hosted the launch as co-directors of BRNZ.

The virtual centre will translate scientific findings into new treatments, therapies and interventions to deliver innovative solutions for ageing-related brain disorders in New Zealand.

Additional partnerships within the Ministry of Health, District Health Boards and non-government organisations with BRNZ will produce world class collaborative research across the nation whilst also addressing key health and social challenges relating to brain health.

Source: voxy.com.nz

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