11
Rotman Research Institute Annual Report 2015-2016
Dr. Jean Chen
Scientist, RRI
Assistant Professor
Department of Medical Biophysics
University of Toronto
Research Focus: Neuroimaging & Aging
Diagnosing dementia using fMRI
Dr. Randy McIntosh
Director, RRI
Professor
Department of Psychology
University of Toronto
Research Focus:
Computational
Neuroscience
Dr. Stephen Strother
Senior Scientist, RRI
Professor
Department of Medical
Biophysics
University of Toronto
Research Focus:
Neuroinformatics &
Neuroimaging
IMAGING & INFORMATICS
Researchers have focused efforts towards stopping the spread of
toxic amyloid plaques in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease,
but Dr. Jean Chen is forging a new path to stop the illness.
Scientists have shown that blood flow to our brain declines with age
and that vascular disease is present in 90% of patients with dementia
on autopsy. In older adults, vascular dysfunction is a strong risk factor
for dementia and greater insight into vascular health could provide an
earlier diagnosis. Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(fMRI), scientists can measure the brain's functionality through its
use of blood and oxygen which allows them to assess vascular elasticity, a measurement linked to vascular
health. To do so, participants are typically exposed to a stimulus, such as a special gas mixture, to trigger
temporary brain changes. However, this technique can be uncomfortable and intolerable for older adults.
Dr. Chen leveraged her engineering background to pioneer a new fMRI technique that remedies these issues.
Her non-invasive, resting-state cerebrovascular-elasticity mapping technique brings research one step closer to
using fMRI as a diagnostic tool to detect signs of neurodegenerative diseases earlier and start interventions
sooner. Her work could also lead to measuring the impact of treatments and interventions on the brain.
She was the first scientist to use MRI to investigate the link between the decline of blood flow and brain
shrinkage during aging and her technique has captured the attention of the scientific community. In 2016, Dr.
Chen was recognized as a health leader by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research with a Foundation Grant
for new investigators. In 2015, her method was published in a prominent, peer-reviewed journal, NeuroImage,
and she has since filed a patent application. Meanwhile, her technique has been adopted by top researchers in
various healthcare institutions to study dementia, stroke, and late-life depression.
As a next step, Dr. Chen will incorporate electroencephalography (EEG) - which captures the brain's electrical
activity - into her technique to clarify the source of the fMRI signal. This will improve fMRI's diagnostic ability as a
tool to help differentiate between different neurodegenerative diseases.
