Spin-L主催 Special Lecture（特別セミナー）を2025年2月28日（金）に開催します。

Dr. Denis Le Bihan
Founding Director, NeuroSpin (France)

“From Brownian motion to consciousness: Diffusion MRI and Einstein’s legacy”

Diffusion MRI, introduced in 1985, leverages water molecular diffusive motion to create images reflecting biological tissues microstructure, offering a non-invasive method akin to virtual biopsies. This innovation initially revolutionized the management of acute cerebral ischemia by enabling early diagnosis and effective interventions. Over time, diffusion MRI has become a cornerstone in clinical and research settings, providing critical insights into tissue integrity, structural abnormalities, and early detection of changes invisible to other modalities. It has broad applications for research and in medicine, especially in neurology and oncology for cancer detection and treatment monitoring. A significant development within diffusion imaging is Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), which allows the mapping of brain white matter connections in 3D. This technique has provided a deeper understanding of brain diseases, neurogenesis, and aging, while opening new research avenues in psychiatry. Generalized, the diffusion framework also connects the concepts of brain function and relativity theory, proposing that consciousness arises as a 5D holographic construct from the brain’s 4D connectome, blending neural activity with a relativistic spacetime framework. Those key concepts are about to be explored using a newly developed 11.7T MRI scanner, enabling mesoscopic imaging of the human brain. This scanner has successfully captured unprecedented in vivo images of the brain, with no adverse effects observed. This breakthrough provides the neuroscience community with a powerful tool to study neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders at a new scale. By advancing our understanding of brain structure and function, the project exemplifies the potential of ultra-high-field MRI to address the complexities of brain diseases, furthering both scientific knowledge and medical practice.