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Structural and functional connectivity using MRI |
During my postdoc in the Vascular Imaging Lab at the University of Calgary, I spearheaded a project to explore the relationship of structural and functional connectivity across the normal adult lifespan in 7 resting-state networks using DTI and rs-fMRI data acquired from 200 adults in an on-going normative study in Calgary. I developed an image processing pipeline to analyze MRIs of T1, DTI, rs-fMRI in Matlab and bash scripts using FreeSurfer, FSL, Diffusion Toolkit / TrackVis to derive brain connectivity metrics. Processing of the images was done using the high performance computing cluster infrastructure managed by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (formerly known as WestGrid).
I received trainee exchange funding to spend one month at the Melbourne Neuroscience Institute and collaborated with a mulidisciplinary team to investigate multi-modal biomarkers for brain concussion in amateur Australian football players where I applied my in-house developed image processing pipeline of MRI data to compare differences between the football players and an age-matched healthy control group.
I also collaborated with investigators and trainees in the Calgary Stroke Program to explore utility of applying relevant parts of my image processing pipeline to their research projects. In addition, I mentored undergraduate students to apply similar analysis techniques in their summer research projects.
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