Hillman wins $1.66M grant for brain research

Assistant Professor Elizabeth M. C. Hillman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, has received a five-year, $1.66 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Dr. Hillman is the director of the Columbia University Laboratory for Functional Optical Imaging and the inaugural recipient of the Rodriguez Family Junior Faculty Development Award. Her research focuses on using light to measure the function and structure of living tissues.

The NIH-funded project will develop and utilize advanced optical imaging tools to better understand how and why the brain modulates its blood flow in response to stimulus. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) utilizes this so-called hemodynamic response to pinpoint areas of the brain that are active. However, very little is understood about how and why this hemodynamic response occurs.

"The behavior of blood flow in the brain cannot be explained by what is currently understood about the brain's vasculature, and about the energy demands of active neurons," says Dr. Hillman. "Furthermore, it is almost impossible to study such a complex system in-vitro, yet imaging these processes in real-time, in the living brain, presents enormous engineering challenges".

Dr. Hillman and her team will build upon their current suite of optical imaging technologies to enable high-speed, high-resolution and high sensitivity in-vivo optical imaging of the complex interrelations between blood flow and neuronal activity. These tools include high-speed multi-spectral two photon microscopy, camera-based multispectral imaging systems and novel laser-scanning imaging techniques.

"Understanding these fundamental aspects of brain physiology is vitally important," says Dr. Hillman. "For many years, the intricate network of blood vessels in the brain has been considered ‘just plumbing'. Yet evidence is mounting that the brain's vasculature is an integral part of the brain. Damage to the coupling between blood flow and neuronal activity causes serious impairment, and is thought to play a role in a wide range of pathologies, including Alzheimer's, stroke and age-related neurodegeneration."

Dr. Hillman notes that fMRI interpretation assumes, and relies upon, the presence of a hemodynamic response to local neuronal activity. "Yet without a proper understanding of how and why blood flow is coupled to neuronal activity in the healthy brain, it is impossible to tell how and why diseases and conditions affect this coupling," she says. "Overall, the results of our work should not only demystify one of the most basic functions of the brain, but it should also provide insights into new therapeutic targets for a wide range of neurological disorders. At the same time, it will improve interpretation of clinical imaging modalities such as fMRI."

Dr. Hillman's lab also has ongoing projects that utilize advanced optical imaging and microscopy tools to investigate skin cancer, cardiac ischemia and systemic organ function. For more information about the Columbia University Laboratory for Functional Optical Imaging, visitwww.bme.columbia.edu/~hillman.