Since magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) first gave researchers and physicians a non-invasive peek into the human brain in 1993, the field has exploded in leaps and bounds as the technology improved. Now, University of Calgary researcher Dr. Brad Goodyear is leading the next evolution as he uses functional MRI technology and techniques to study brain function in order to uncover how diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis and stroke interfere with the brain’s ability to communicate between its different regions.

This work is part of the University of Calgary's commitment to expanding its internationally-recognized research in the rapidly growing field of biomedical engineering. More than 100 researchers from the Schulich School of Engineering and the faculties of science, medicine, veterinary medicine and kinesiology are involved in inventing, developing and commercializing technologies in the health care sector that will help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses. The U of C is also creating a new National Biomedical Engineering Innovation Centre as a catalyst for Alberta’s expanding biomedical economy.

Mapping the brain

Goodyear’s cutting-edge research, while still in its early stages, will ultimately reveal how communication between the brain’s grey matter regions—the “thinking” part of the brain—becomes severed when the brain’s white matter—the connective tissue—becomes diseased. When those connections are lost or impaired, the brain tries to “re-route” the signals to other parts of the brain, but eventually exhausts its options. The result can be impairments in movement, speech and cognitive function.

By taking high-tech snapshots of the brain using functional MRI, his research will identify fluctuations in brain activity over time, producing a kind of “map” of the brain indicating the degree to which brain regions are communicating. In stroke patients, these snapshots will help predict the chances of a patient’s recovery and help doctors determine the impact of disease. This “mapping” is also an essential tool in developing new therapeutic strategies. “What we’re trying to develop is the missing link between the size and severity of a stroke and the actual behavioural function of the patient,” says Goodyear, an assistant professor of radiology and clinical neurosciences at the U of C.

The next level
Until recently, imaging was used to assess only the size and location of a stroke. Function was not something that was measured in the brain directly—until now. Goodyear, who also works in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, is “taking it to the next level” by using these MRI snapshots to predict patient outcomes, based on the strength of the communication he identifies in the patient’s brain.

By measuring how brain signals change in different regions of the brain after a stroke—known as connectivity analysis—Goodyear will potentially provide patients and doctors with an objective indicator of brain function and, therefore, predict the likelihood of patients recovering some or all of their brain function. Previous models relied on patients performing a task and measuring brain function during the task, but because stroke sufferers often have limited physical control, this left out a large population.

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