Interpreting the dynamic processes that underlie the cerebrovascular response and its application to the study of healthy ageing and disease

In this project, the student will be involved in MRI data acquisition and image analysis. The 7 week project will begin with two weeks of training in MRI data analysis using tools such as FSL and Quantiphyse, which will also include working with the terminal. We have some great resources to teach these skills and we can accommodate a range of computing experience. However, perseverance to learn how to use these tools is a necessity. If progress is quick you might also begin coding inMATLAB. Depending on when this rotation takes place we may still be acquiring data for our "RobustCVR"study, which you will be analysing as part of this project. We have two other ongoing studies,so you will get a chance to be involved in MRI data acquisition regardless. The RobustCVR study is designed to assess the robustness of quantitative measurements of cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) to carbon dioxide using pseudo-continuous ASL(PCASL). PCASL is only truly quantitative under very specific conditions, which we believe are violated in a carbon dioxide breathing experiment. Specifically,breathing carbon dioxide changes the velocity of blood flowing in the carotid arteries, resulting in an underestimation of tissue perfusion change.Understanding this issue and putting in countermeasures is an important step in the more routine use of this technique. However, for us it is a stepping stone towards a better understanding of the physiology of the CVR response. Recent work has suggested that this response might be reflective of vascular resistance, which is a hypothesis we plan to investigate(Duffin et al.,2017). Ultimately a better model of the CVR response will enable us to better understand the signal we measure during transitions between steady states (dynamics) and to better interpret data acquired in the disease condition