Pesky Programming, Massive Magnets, & Exciting Exploration

It's my second week in Lübeck, and I feel like I'm finally starting to settle in properly. Although moving slow, the project I'm working on is really progressing. My first week was almost all about making experiment design decisions while this past week has been all about implementing them. Well, that and testing out the equipment. It took me longer to figure out some programming quirks for an aspect of our task to run properly on the scanner computer.

The entrance to the MRI control room

Also, I'm sad to report that it seems I won't get to see what my brain looks like after all. My copper IUD is only rated as "MR safe" for up to 1.5 Tesla magnets (that's a measure of strength of the magnetic field) and we use a 3 Tesla magnet here. So although there's basically no evidence that I could be harmed by the electromagnetic field, once again I'm stuck in the control room and not able to get pretty images of my brain.

Anyways, beyond my personal disappointment, everything has been going really well.  I think with our current time line we shouldn't have too much trouble collecting enough participants in the time allotted. It helps that within the next week, Iliana (a fellow NU grad student) will arrive in Hamburg so we can really get running. In the mean time, it's pre-piloting, correcting, and more piloting for me! Oh! And I'm giving a short talk/presentation at an MRI colloquia as the official proposal to start running subjects. I'm more than a little anxious, but I think that it should go fine.

While my weekdays have been completely consumed with research, my weekends are reserved for exploration and fun! Last weekend, I spent Saturday exploring the city of Lübeck and getting my bearings. I also went to a fascinating museum about the Hanseatic League.

The famous Holstentor- or Holsten Gate- of Lübeck

Downtown Lübeck

On Sunday, I took a 30km (10 mile) ride on my trusty bicycle to the beach town of Travemünde. The ride itself was mostly through woods or around farms so it was a beautiful way to see the countryside. It was misty when I got to the beach, but I enjoyed wandering around and having lunch before cycling back home.

Travemunde

Travemunde

Sign reads "We live here"

This past weekend, I went a bit further afield. On Saturday, I journeyed into Hamburg- Germany's second largest city after Berlin. I can't say I got to see all of it, or even a good portion. I mainly spent time in the Planten un Blomen and Miniatur Wunderland.  The first is a huge park in the city that is absolutely lovely and peaceful, the second is my dream come true. A museum totally composed of miniature worlds and running trains. I can't even begin to describe how delightful it was! There were models of Switzerland, Hamburg, and the US, plus all kinds of fictional places.  I spent hours there and didn't even see all of the details. Did I mention the model builders also clearly have a sense of humor?

The creators have weird senses of humor- peeping monks watching a scantily clad woman try to fix her car 

I love the cyclist race with the kids trailing behind 

Just to give you an idea of the size of the displays- Swiss mountains

Anyways, yesterday I went to Schwerin for a quieter adventure than the big city. It's a town south east of Lübeck and famous for it's castle surrounded by lakes. It honestly looks like something out of a fairytale. Once again, I was drawn to some quiet park space to relax after seeing the castle. So overall, I must say my weekend adventures have been really lovely!

Schwerin, Germany

The fairytale castle- Schwerin

My best childhood friend, Courtney

And as a last note, last week I had the pleasure of my childhood best friend once again meeting me in Europe! Courtney stopped by for a few days in Lübeck before continuing her travels before her big graduation ceremony at Cambridge. So congrats to Courtney for finishing her post-bacc degree! I'm so happy for you!

Cheers to you Courtney!

Cross Country Collaboration

Yes, those wires are electrified...

This past Saturday, I completed the 11 mile/22 obstacle course of the Chicago Tough Mudder.

We  survived!

The very next day, I left the country for Lübeck, Germany.

Situated along the Baltic Sea, Lübeck was once a powerhouse of the Hanseatic League. 

My head is still spinning from the quick turn around! It's surreal to be sitting at a new desk at the Universität zu Lübeck, and yet be working on a project that I've had on my to-do list for months. Sometime earlier this year, my advisor broached the topic of collaborating with Dr. Heldmann & Dr. Münte on a sleep fMRI project. Of course, I immediately volunteered myself and started working on the study design, along with another graduate student from my lab. However, I'm the first of the two of us to make it to Lübeck. My lab mate wont join me in Germany for another 2 weeks, by which time I hope to have finished piloting and be ready to move into data collection.

Most of my time so far has been dedicated to finding the appropriate stimuli for German participants. We piloted the behavioral aspects of the study in Chicago but it seems famous locations to us aren't nearly as well known here. That being said, most of the preparation I did at Northwestern has ended up being very helpful.

My new ride for the next month, she's old but strong!

Our next step will be to set up everything in the fMRI scanner and make sure we have our timing down. While piloting a few different sequences, I'll finally get to be the participant in the scanner! After all these years (5 years!) of being involved with imaging research, I'll finally get to take a peek at my brain! I can't tell you how exciting that is to me! And after we sort out how we will be collecting the brain images, we'll get right to the piloting phase!

But that's looking pretty far ahead. I haven't even been in Lübeck for a full week yet. So far, I've managed to figure out the grocery store and purchased an old bicycle so I can bike to work rather than taking the bus. So for my immediate future, my current plan is to finally explore the city this weekend and enjoy the fact that I'm living abroad!

All Science isn't Good Science

*Note: First of all, I want to apologize profusely for having been away so long for my blog.  I can tell you right now, it wasn't from sheer laziness as would be expected.  In fact my summer was spent working nearly every single day- including through the weekends.  I was hired on by my lab to continue assisting with the data analysis and on days I wasn't there, I worked in Central Market as a cashier.  But now the school year has begun and while I certainly have less free time, I will also have a lot more subject matter to write on.

Maybe this is merely my interpretation, but I believe the first two years of college for a science student are about teaching you "facts" while the second half is devoted to showing how we can get bad "facts" from a poorly designed study.  As a good scientist, one must always examine how the conclusion was reached and whether the experiment is actually sound.  I want to give 2 examples of studies which should not be used in modern science- one because the technology is far out-dated, and the other because of a poor subject selection and subsequent experimental design.

The Tilting Table
The first story I want to tell revolves around the famous psychologist- William James.  He has been quoted for his many insights into memory and cognition though very poetic language.  But did you know he also tried to create the first MRI in the 1890s?

Imagine a man lying on a perfectly flat table which has been balanced beneath him.  James then asked the man to think either about some emotional aspect, or to do a series of logical puzzles.  If this went on long enough, the table would tilt towards the head, as if it had become more heavy. This was the first attempt to understand blood flow as a mechanism for measuring what is being activated.

Keep in mind, this is beyond rudimentary.  It was an extremely clever idea at the time, but has since been outdated with PET scans and fMRIs.  The reason I include it under the heading "bad science" isn't because I'm not impressed with William James.  On the contrary, I find him a fascinating individual.  But I wanted to demonstrate that technology continually advances.  To use outdated technology in a modern experiment can alter the results in a way that is unknown to the experimenter.  The newest technology isn't always the best but we can't use outdated methods if we expect our work to be taken seriously.

The Talairach Brain
Within the past week, I have heard the Talairach brain mentioned at least 3 times and never with any reverence.  And when I learned more about it, I was astounded that anyone would keep it in use as an atlas for modern studies.  Here is, in my opinion, an example of science at its worst.

Talairach is the name of the researcher leading in the creation of this atlas.  An atlas, in neuroscience terms, is a model brain by which you can standardize the areas of activation found using fMRI studies.  It's a template that you lay your own images over to map where you say activation.

Here is an example of a structural scan using an MRI.  I
believe the Talairach model has been overlaid on the original.

But the Talairach model is a terrible choice.  Talairach used only one subject for his template whereas most modern research uses multiple brains which are averaged together to create a model more standard to the population.  The second problem with Talairach was that he used the brain of an alcoholic woman- which by no means has the same structure and function as a normal, healthy brain.  And as if that weren't bad enough, Talairach didn't even scan her entire brain.  He actually just scanned one hemisphere and then flipped it over to create a mirror image.  Normal brains have slightly different function and structure across the hemispheres.  This is a fact that Talairach completely disregarded in favor of ease.

The sad part is there are still some studies today which use the Talairach brain atlas.  Many other atlases have been created since then but the old design persists.  This is why it is important to understand what you are reading in scientific literature and be able to critically analyze it.  Not every published paper is without its faults.  This is an important lesson that I believe the lay public is not enough aware of.