Principal Investigator Polina Golland
Co-investigator Nancy Kanwisher
One challenge for neuroscience research is analyzing the very large datasets produced by brain imaging studies. Two new MINT projects will explore different computational approaches, using data from Professor Kanwisher at McGovern Institute.
Professor Golland in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) will use Kanwisher's fMRI data to search for brain areas that respond to specific categories of visual objects. Several such areas are known to exist, but the current methods for identifying them only work if they are in the same location in every person. Golland has developed a computational method that avoids this assumption. She and Kanwisher plan to test the method on a large body of brain scanning data to determine whether it can reveal the existence of new brain areas that cannot be found with existing methods. Golland also collaborates with neurosurgeons to analyze imaging data to help surgical planning for brain tumor surgery.