Developing a high-resolution MEG system to measure human brain activity using TMR-sensors
Supervisors:
Professor Simon Hanslmayr, School of Psychology and Neuroscience
Professor Hadi Heidari, James Watt School of Engineering
PhD project summary:
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) allows to non-invasively measure brain activity in real-time at high spatial resolution, which offers unique possibilities for research and neurotechnology. However, MEG is currently limited by the need for costly SQUID sensors, which require cooling by liquid helium and don’t allow for the subject to move. In other words, MEG is expensive and stationary. Recently developed optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) made it possible to record MEG without helium and allowing participants to move, but they are limited by their size, suffer from restricted bandwidth, and can only detect magnetic fields in certain directions. This project will overcome these limitations and develop an entirely new MEG system, based on a fundamental property of electrons known as spin in the tunnelling magnetoresistive sensors (TMR). Such sensors have been recently developed by the supervisory team to measure human muscle activity at high temporal and spatial resolution.
The goal of this project is to adapt this technology to measure brain activity, focusing on human alpha oscillations which are the strongest signal in the human brain and support various cognitive and motor functions. This project could revolutionize the field of cognitive neuroscience in developing a TMR-MEG system enabling high-resolution measurement human brain activity