Prof Hillman wins $1.6M from NIH for brain research
05/15/2008
Prof Elizabeth M. C. Hillman has been awarded a 5 year NIH grant totaling over $1.6M from the NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr Hillman's research focuses on using light to measure the function and structure of living tissues. The funded project aims to develop and utilize advanced optical imaging tools to better understand how the brain works; specifically, how and why the brain modulates its blood flow in response to stimulus. Very little is understood about the interactions between neuronal activity and the modulation of blood flow in the brain, and it is almost impossible to study such a complex system in-vitro. Imaging these processes in real-time, in the living brain presents enormous engineering challenges.
Dr Hillman and her group have built a range of optical imaging tools that are specifically designed to enable in-vivo imaging of the brain with high spatial and temporal resolution. These techniques include high-speed multi-spectral two photon microscopy, camera-based multispectral imaging systems and novel laser-scanning imaging techniques.
Damage to the coupling between blood flow and neuronal activity causes serious impairment, and is thought to play a role in Alzheimer's, stroke and age-related neurodegeneration. Without a proper understanding of how and why blood flow is coupled to neuronal activity in the healthy brain, it is impossible to tell how and why diseases and conditions affect this coupling. Dr Hillman hopes that her advanced optical imaging technologies will allow her to develop a comprehensive model of neurovascular coupling in the living brain.
Dr Hillman's lab also has ongoing projects that utilize advanced optical imaging and microscopy tools to investigate skin cancer, cardiac ischemia and systemic organ function. For more information about the Columbia University Laboratory for Functional Optical Imaging, visit www.bme.columbia.edu/~hillman.
Two-photon microscopy images of the living brain.
