Dear professors and colleagues,

The upcoming seminar on April 9th will be held at NCU, and with Dr. Ifan Betina Ip as the invited speaker. Please refer to the following details for the seminar:

Speaker:
Dr. Ifan Betina Ip
Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, Sherrington Building, University of Oxford.

Topic:
Functional neurochemical responses in the human visual cortex

Venue:
Science Building #4, S4-209, NCU (中央大學科四館209室)

Date & Time:
2019/04/09, 14:00~16:00
(There will be post-seminar meeting after the talk.)

Functional neurochemical responses in the human visual cortex

Abstract
Glutamate and GABA are the major excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters of the brain and their balance is a critical feature of cortical function. The relationship between MRS visible glutamate and GABA, the BOLD-fMRI response and visual processing is not well understood. My work aims to measure dynamic levels of glutamate and GABA to visual stimulation in human primary visual cortex using ultra-high field magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 7-Tesla field strength. I present recent work based on functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy techniques, showing that glutamate and BOLD responses to visual stimulation are correlated, and that both signals increase linearly to image contrast levels. The aim of my research is to improve our understanding of visual perception using complementary imaging methods.