Concurrent non-invasive millisecond imaging of brain and spinal cord in health and disease

Our goal is to establish and validate a non-invasive imaging system capable of concurrently mapping brain and spinal cord electrical activity, non-invasively, at millisecond temporal resolution, during natural movement.

The proposed system will exploit novel magnetic sensing technology in the form of optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs).

Using this technology, we have successfully developed a 100 channel wearable optically pumped magnetoencephalography (OP-MEG) system in a dedicated laboratory and shielded room at UCL.

With OP-MEG, we have demonstrated that it is possible to make reliable measures of human brain function, even under challenging conditions such as participant movement or mapping deep structures, e.g. cerebellum or hippocampus. Yet all of this has been achieved with precision exceeding conventional MEG technology.

Building on this experience, we will augment OP-MEG with the ability to simultaneously record from the spinal cord – something that is not possible with existing technologies. The proposed wearable magneto-encephalography and spinography (MESG) system would be a world first.

Concurrent imaging of brain and spinal cord electrophysiology, during natural human movement, and in diverse patient groups, would offer unprecedented opportunities for basic and clinical investigation of the human central nervous system in its entirety.