Longitudinal study of Resting state functional MRI in patients with Motor Neuron Disease.

Motor Neuron Disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease which affects the brain and spinal cord. We have acquired serial MR imaging data on 3-Tesla Skyra MRI (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany). This project will require learning in image processing and analysis and explore the role of functional MRI as biomarker of disease progression via resting state functional MRI. Functional MRI detects change in blood oxygen level and flow throughout the brain. Resting state functional MRI evaluate the co-activation of brain regions, typically the default mode network, while the subject is in resting state. In an earlier project using this dataset, we have evaluated the role of iron deposition in the motor cortex via quantitative susceptibility mapping. This paper was published in QIMS. https://qims.amegroups.org/article/view/44285/html