About Us

About the
Brain Sciences Center

Brain Sciences Center (BSC)

A research group in collaboration with the Minnesota American Legion, Minneapolis VA Medical Center, and the University of Minnesota.

The
Brain Sciences Center

Brain Sciences Center (BSC)

A research group in collaboration with the Minnesota American Legion, Minneapolis VA Medical Center, and the University of Minnesota.
, located at the Minneapolis
VA Medical Center

VA Medical Center (VAMC)

, is an interdisciplinary research institute, and training center, that focuses on the mechanisms underlying the active, dynamic brain in both health and disease.

The Center's neuroinvestigators collaborate on a wide variety of research studies including: schizophrenia, Alzheimer's Disease, alcoholism, mechanisms of cognitive function, memory and learning, control of movement, and musical analysis of brain signals. In addition, these investigators represent a cross- section of academic disciplines including: biophysics, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, electrical engineering, music, neurology, neurophysiology, neuroscience, psychiatry, radiology, scientific computation, and statistics.

Advanced technology is essential to tackling the complex nature of the brain, so Center investigators must employ a multitude of functional neuroimaging and other leading-edge research methods in their work including:
Magnetoencephalography

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

A noninvasive technique that detects magnetic fields above the surface of the head produced by postsynaptic potentials in the brain.
,
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

A functional neuroimaging procedure using MRI technology that measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that region also increases.[citation needed] The primary form of fMRI uses the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) contrast, discovered by Seiji Ogawa. This is a type of specialized brain and body scan used to map neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals by imaging the change in blood flow (hemodynamic response) related to energy use by brain cells. Since the early 1990s, fMRI has come to dominate brain mapping research because it does not require people to undergo shots, surgery, or to ingest substances, or be exposed to ionising radiation, etc.
, large scale computer modeling, neurophysiology, sonification, experimental psychology, single cell recordings, and statistical analysis.


email: bsc@umn.edu

phone: 612.725.2282

fax: 612.725.2291