Margulies et al., 2016, PNAS

Fall 2024 offering

This course provides background necessary for designing, conducting, and interpreting fMRI studies in the human brain. Covers in depth the physics of image encoding, mechanisms of anatomical and functional contrasts, the physiological basis of fMRI signals, cerebral hemodynamics, and neurovascular coupling. Also covers design methods for stimulus-, task-driven and resting-state experiments, as well as workflows for model-based and data-driven analysis methods for data. Instruction in brain structure analysis and surface- and region-based analyses. Laboratory sessions include data acquisition sessions at the 3 Tesla MRI scanner at MIT and the Connectom 2.0 and 7 Tesla scanners at the MGH/HST Martinos Center, as well as hands-on data analysis workshops. Introductory or college-level neurobiology, physics, and signal processing are helpful.

Course Directors

Jonathan R Polimeni (email)
Anastasia Yendiki (email)
Jingyuan Chen (email)

Course Coordinator

Amelia Strom (email)

Class Administrative Assistant

Estee Perelgut (email)

Meeting Times

Lectures: Monday & Wednesday 3:00-4:00 pm

Seminars: Wednesday 2:00-3:00 pm

Labs: Monday 12:30-2:00 pm

Classroom

Lectures: 3-333 (map)

Seminars: 3-333 (map)

Labs: 3-333 (map)

Schedule and Course Organization

The Course Syllabus includes details regarding the schedule, including labs, seminars and lectures. Homework and lab assignments will be posted here one week prior to the due date.

The Calendar provides the topics for each class meeting and the course Faculty Member leading each meeting.

Reading Assignments from the course Textbook and Other Reading Materials will be posted prior to most lectures and seminars. (Selected readings mentioned in Lectures/Seminars will also be posted periodically on the Readings page.)

Lecture and Seminar Materials (including slide handouts) will be posted after each class.

Lab Assignments and Homework Assignments covering the labs and lecture material will be posted on the Assignments page. (Note that the Homework Assignments will be problem sets that include bonus questions taken from the Advanced Topics Seminars.)