Webinar Overview
Blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) is the most widely employed MRI technique to study brain function, bridging circuit neuroscience in animal models with noninvasive brain mapping in humans. Conventional BOLD fMRI with gradient echo planar imaging is attributed with acoustic noise, susceptibility to motion and magnetic-field inhomogeneity, and has limited sensitivity and specificity.
In their webinar, Yen-Yu Ian Shih and Tzu-Hao Harry Chao will introduce Steady-state On-the-Ramp Detection of INduction-decay with Oversampling (SORDINO). SORDINO maintains a constant total gradient amplitude while acquiring data at zero-echo-time during continuously changing gradient direction. They will illustrate that SORDINO has contrast mechanisms that are distinct from BOLD. When benchmarked against conventional gradient echo planar imaging fMRI, SORDINO proves to be silent, sensitive, specific, and resistant to artifacts. The technique was used to investigate inter-brain synchronization in two awake, interacting mice. Thus, SORDINO provides an alternative to current BOLD fMRI technique for brain-wide activity and connectivity mapping.
Thursday, 25 September 2025
11:00 AM EDT | 04:00 PM CEST
What to Expect
In the webinar Yen-Yu Ian Shih and Tzu-Hao Harry Chao will introduce the novel fMRI approach SORDINO. They will show the implementation and application of the technique to awake, socially interacting mice. A comparison of SORDINO with conventional gradient echo planar imaging will reveal the specific advantages of their approach.
Key Learning Points
- Introducing SORDINO for functional MRI
- Demonstrate brain-wide activity and connectivity mapping in mice
- Enabling simultaneous investigations in two awake, socially interacting animals
Who Should Attend
This webinar will be relevant to researchers involved in using functional MRI to study large-scale networks and dynamics and their biological underpinnings as well as brain–behavior relationships in animal models.
Speakers
Yen-Yu Ian Shih
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Ian Shih is a Professor and Vice Chair for Research at UNC-Chapel Hill. He also serves as Director of the Center for Animal MRI. His research focuses on advancing MRI techniques and multimodal imaging approaches for awake, behaving mice, and investigating the mechanisms underlying fMRI signals and functional brain networks.
Tzu-Hao Harry Chao
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Dr. Tzu-Hao Chao is a Research Staff Scientist in the Department of Neurology at UNC-Chapel Hill. His research focuses on multimodal imaging in awake, behaving mice to investigate functional brain networks and inter-brain synchronization during social interaction, aiming to uncover the neuronal mechanisms underlying social behavior and brain network dynamics in both health and disease.