Opening of IHN’s OPM
At Boys Town National Research Hospital, the emphasis has and continues to be providing extraordinary care for children and their families. On January 10th, 2023, the Institute for Human Neuroscience (IHN) took another large step toward that aim with the installation of an optically-pumped magnetometry (OPM) system, the first wearable MEG device that will allow researchers to study the brain activity of children from birth to 5 years old.
Tony Wilson, Ph.D., the director of IHN, and his team of renowned scientists became the second of only two facilities in the world to install a high-density Cerca® OPM system. The OPM system is the most up to date MEG technology in the world, and the team at IHN are well equipped to capitalize on this opportunity. Not only are they the world’s leading research group for peer-reviewed publications utilizing MEG technology, but they are also the leading group in federal funding for MEG research in the United States, and the only institute in the world to house two next-generation MEG systems.
Watch the video below to see the system in action and hear Dr. Wilson explain how this technology works.
The OPM system consists of a series of Lego-sized sensors attached to a helmet that can be worn by infants and toddlers, allowing them to move around and interact with their environment while scientists directly record their brain activity in real-time. The latest generation of high-resolution OPM has 128 channels, which provide enough brain coverage to look in-depth at where and how brain activity is generated in our youngest children.
The first study that researchers at IHN plan to conduct will be looking at infants in the first couple of months of life. Studies have been done on how brain structure changes during this time, but how that affects brain function has been beyond study, until now.
“We'll be able to observe the reactions within their brains as they are literally gaining awareness of the world," said Dr. Wilson, the Director of IHN. “We will be watching as they gain awareness of their parents and as they begin processing touch and language for the first time.”
Max Kurz, Ph.D., plans to study how small children learn to control motor behavior and how the brains of young children with cerebral palsy develop differently than typically developing children. Children with cerebral palsy usually do not get formally diagnosed until they miss multiple motor milestones through development. Future studies using the OPM will enable scientists to see and predict these missed milestones much earlier, and eventually use novel therapeutic interventions to prevent these milestones from being missed.
Check back soon to hear about the research findings generated from this revolutionary technology!