Cape Town - 2026 ISMRM-ISMRT Annual Meeting and Exhibition

Mesoscale Functional MRI

Oral

Brain Function & fMRI

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

Ballroom West

16:00 - 17:50

Moderators: Luca Vizioli & Ana Beatriz Solana

Session Number: 505-04

No CME/CE Credit

Similar Sessions

Mesoscale fMRI covers the functional imaging of layers, columns and other brain structures that require submillimeter resolution.

Skill Level: Advanced

16:00		505-04-001. Ultra-high field fMRI characterisation of the cortical circuitry underpinning sensorimotor network development in neonates Jucha Willers Moore, David Leitão, Antonia Massmann, Philippa Bridgen, Pierluigi Di Cio, Lucy Billimoria, Inka Granlund, Ines Tomazinho, Alena Uus, Maria Deprez, Jo Hajnal, Shaihan Malik, Tomoki Arichi King's College London, London, United Kingdom Impact: We demonstrate circuit-level differences in both sensorimotor responses and cortical-depth-dependent functional connectivity in M1 and S1 in neonates. This offers new insights into how sensorimotor processing emerges after birth and informs early markers of disrupted neurodevelopment preceding adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes.
16:11		505-04-002. Layer-fMRI at 0.39 mm isotropic meets vascular mapping at 0.35 mm isotropic: Partners or Confounders? Alessandra Pizzuti, Omer Faruk Gulban, Rainer Goebel, Renzo Huber Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands Impact: Layer-fMRI is approaching the scale of cortical microcircuits, yet its physiological underpinnings remain unclear. By pairing 0.39 mm layer-fMRI with 0.35 mm vascular imaging, we demonstrate that vascular architecture accounts for significant, previously unexplained variance in laminar signals.
16:22		505-04-003. Whole-brain, cerebral blood volume weighted imaging optimized for the study of cortical networks on NexGen 7T scanner Alexander Beckett, Suvi Häkkinen, Erica Walker, Oleksandr Khegai, An Vu, Renzo Huber, David Feinberg University of California, Berkeley, United States of America Impact: Recent advances in hardware and sequence optimization allow for whole-brain CBV weighted imaging with sufficient temporal resolution for functional connectivity studies.
16:33		505-04-004. Imaging the Human Hippocampus at 10.5T fMRI: Surpassing Current Resolution Limits Yulia Lazarova, Lasse Knudsen, Steen Moeller, Nils Nothnagel, Lonike Faes, Essa Yacoub, Kamil Ugurbil, Luca Vizioli Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States of America Impact: Leveraging supra-linear SNR and CNR gains at 10.5T, we achieve in-vivo hippocampal functional imaging specificity surpassing current resolution limits while preserving exceptional data quality. This allows individual-level assessment of hippocampal microcircuits, enabling elusive basic and translational applications for human memory.
16:44		505-04-005. Modeling effects of EPI readout on laminar profiles of spin-echo BOLD via biophysical simulations using realistic vasculature Grant Hartung, Avery Berman, Daniel Haenelt, Dominik Schillinger, Jonathan Polimeni Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany Impact: Although ongoing efforts seek functional contrasts in fMRI that provide improved microvascular specificity, often the image encoding can have a substantial impact on vascular specificity. Newly available biophysical modeling based on realistic vascular architecture can shed light on these effects.
16:55		505-04-006. Stimulus-driven phase encoding to track temporal dynamics across cortical areas and layers using 7T fMRI Josh Wilhelm, Jurjen Heij, Marcus Daghlian, Wietske van der Zwaag, Serge Dumoulin Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Amsterdam, Netherlands Impact: Visual processing is shaped by recurrent interactions across cortical areas and layers, leading to complex temporal dynamics. Our approach maps temporal activation profiles using stimulus-driven phase encoding, providing a new way to study timing in the human visual cortex.
17:06		505-04-007. Layer-specific functional gradients reveal intrinsic network organization and feedback processing J. Karolis Degutis, Jenifer Miehlbradt, Manon Durand-Ruel, Petra Hüppi, Dimitri Van De Ville University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Impact: We provide whole-brain, layer-resolved, resting-state gradients at 7T that show laminar network organization, align with cytoarchitectural hierarchy, and reveal feedback-dominant signal flow, bridging microcircuit organization and macroscale cortical topology.
17:17		505-04-008. Multi-TR/Multi-TE 1D Line-Scanning for Rapid Simultaneous T1 and T2 Mapping of Cortical Layers at 7T Guoxiang Liu, Takashi Ueguchi, Seiji Ogawa Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, The University of Osaka, Japan Impact: This integrated line-scanning framework provides the crucial missing link for laminar fMRI by delivering coregistered quantitative T1/T2 maps. It enables neuroscientists to confidently assign functional activity to specific cortical layers, transforming the interpretation of mesoscopic brain organization.
17:28		505-04-009. A novel paradigm for ultra-high field cortical depth dependent fMRI studies of affective touch processing Antonia Massmann, Ildar Farkhatdinov, David Leitão, Jucha Willers Moore, Philippa Bridgen, Pierluigi Di Cio, Lucy Billimoria, Inka Granlund, Jo Hajnal, Shaihan Malik, Nicolaas Puts, Tomoki Arichi King's College London, London, United Kingdom Impact: We describe a novel paradigm using a pneumatic, MR-compatible stimulation device that enables the systematic investigation of the neural circuitry underlying affective touch processing. Its low-cost adaptable design will allow further exploration of these mechanisms across development and neurodevelopmental conditions.
17:39		505-04-010. Guided Discussion Ana Beatriz Solana GE Healthcare, Munich, Germany