Kristoffer Hougaard Madsen from the DRCMR recently received "Direktør Gorm-Petersens Mindelegat" given in recognition of his PhD thesis entitled "Modelling Strategies for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging" . Further details are given in Danish on the DTU homepage .

A number of student projects (BSc/MSc) are available in the field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Some of those are described in a flyer prepared for students at the DTU Medicine&Technology education. Let us know, if you are interested in these projects, or similar.

In spring 2010, MR scientists and clinicians will gather in Stockholm for the ISMRM/ESMRMB meeting taking place May 1^st-7^th. While being in Scandinavia, we encourage those with special interest in ultra-high field MRI studies to take the opportunity to stop in Copenhagen on the way home for a 1½ day symposium. The focus will be on scientific and clinical applications of MR in humans at magnetic fields of 7 tesla and above.

The meeting in Stockholm ends at noon May 7^th and the meeting in Copenhagen starts the following day, also at noon. This gives you the possibility to enjoy the Scandinavian atmosphere in Stockholm and/or Copenhagen between the two meetings. The Stockholm-Copenhagen flight takes one hour only. There are several departures every day.

Speakers
We are proud to present some of the most outstanding experts in the field of ultra-high field imaging applications. Preliminary list of confirmed speakers:

• Marta Bianciardi, NIH, USA: Spontaneous signal fluctuations in human fMRI at high magnetic fields.
• Fernando E. Boada, University of Pittsburg, USA: Monitoring Ion Homeostasis with Sodium MRI (sMRI).
• Jeff Duyn, NIH, USA: Anatomical MRI based on magnetic susceptibility contrast.
• Rolf Gruetter, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. In vivo metabolism studies at ultra-high field.
• Mark Ladd, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Advances in Ultra-High Field Body Imaging
• Sarah J. Nelson, University of California, San Francisco, USA: Clinical applications at ultra-high field.
• Oliver Speck, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Germany: Towards fMRI of subcortical structures at high field.
• Siegfried Trattnig, Medical University of Vienna, Austria: High resolution morphological, compositional and metabolic imaging in the musculoskeletal system by ultra-high field.
• Robert Turner, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany: Multimodal fMRI
• Kamil Ugurbil, University of Minnesota, USA: fMRI of the visual system at ultra-high field
• Lawrence Wald, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA: Control of CBF at the laminar level.

Venue
The meeting is held at the remarkably pleasant Helene Elsass Centre situated beautifully just north of the Danish Capital Copenhagen (map). Connections from central Copenhagen to Ordrup station are good (trains every 10 minutes, duration 20 minutes, 5 minutes walk to  the venue).

Registration
The attendance fee is EUR 150. Further information and online registration is at http://www.drcmr.dk/UHF2010

The special Neuroscience issue on imaging genetics

Special Issue:
Linking Genes to Brain Function in Health and Disease

Guest Editors
Joseph Callicott, MD
Venkata Mattay, MD
Hartwig R. Siebner, MD
Tobias Sommer, MD

Free educational MR software developed at the DRCMR got the  ESMRMB software award at the society meeting  in Turkey, October 2009. The software includes the Bloch Simulator and a new instructive java applet allowing students to explore the simplest Magnetic Resonance setup possible. Both are available via http://www.drcmr.dk/MR together with explanatory texts, animations and links to extensive MRI course notes in English.

MRI lecture notes written by Lars G. Hanson were only available in Danish until now. They have now been translated into English by Theis Groth.

The notes offer a thorough introduction to basic MRI concepts and imaging techniques. They are meant to supplement lectures aimed at new students of MRI, whether these are trained in physics or not. Important concepts are explained rigorously without the use of math. Supplementary sofware and animations are available at http://www.drcmr.dk/MR

The notes are avaiable in two PDF versions for printing on the paper formats A4 or Letter: Introduction to Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques. 

  The DRCMR annual report 2008 is now available in PDF files optimised for screen an printing. The report provides an overview of the research and clinical activities. 

Professor Hartwig R. Siebner from the DRCMR has together with researcher from Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany, explored how sexual preference is revealed in functional MRI using erotic visual stimuli. The group found fMRI to be at least as sensitive as phallometry, which is used as evidence in trials, but which is criticized. Also, the brain response of homosexuals was found to be similar to that of heterosexuals, confirming that the brains of homosexuals are normal, only tuned to different stimuli.

 The paper was published in Journal of Sexual Medicine: Assessment of sexual orientation using the hemodynamic brain response to visual sexual stimuli'; doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2009.01233.x

 An article in Danish summarizing the study was published by Thomas Hoffmann at Videnskab.dk: Hjerneskanninger afslører din sex-fantasi

 Download course program 

Overview: This advanced PhD course will provide an up-to-date overview of the currently
available magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to study the human brain.
Emphasis will be placed on new methodological advances in structural and functional MRI.

Aims: to acquire an in-depth understanding of the various neuroscientific MRI tools; to be
able to efficiently plan and conduct neuroscientific MRI studies; to select the optimal MRI
protocol and data analysis method for individual research projects; and to be able to critically
interpret published MRI studies.

Content: Morphometric analyses of high-resolution structural MRI images of the brain (voxel
and tensor based morphometry, cortical thickness mapping, shape analysis, classification).
Diffusion weighted MRI - assessing anatomical connectivity in vivo (micro- and macrostructural
neuroanatomy, diffusion tensor imaging, TBSS, tractrography and connectivity, clinical
applications). Functional MRI - mapping the brain at rest and at work with a focus on data
processing (perfusion MRI and BOLD, paradigm design, meta-analysis, second level analysis,
causality and connectivity analysis, decompositions, resting state fMRI, physiological noise
modelling, real-time fMRI), and new developments  (high-field MRI, EEG-fMRI, TMS-fMRI,
mind reading).

Participants: PhD students (medicine, physics, biophysics, neuroscience) interested in
neuroimaging. No specific qualifications required, but some basic knowledge of MRI and
some background in statistical image analysis would be helpful.

Language: English.

Form: Interactive teaching with illustrative examples.

ECTS-credits: 2.5

Teachers: Christian Gaser (Uni. Jena), Simon Fristed Eskildsen (Uni. Ålborg),
Oliver Granert (Uni. Kiel), Bogdan Draganski (MPI, Leipzig), Mark Burke (Uni. Montreal),
Mark Tittgemeyer (MPI, Cologne), Saad Jbabdi (Uni. Oxford), Stephane Lehéricy (Uni. Paris),
Finn Årup Nielsen (DTU, Lyngby), Christian Büchel (Uni. Hamburg), James Rowe (Uni. Cambridge),
Morten Mørup (DTU, Lyngby), Torben E. Lund (CFIN, Århus), Stephen  LaConte (Uni. Texas),
Til Bergmann (Uni. Kiel), Axel Tielscher (MPI, Tuebingen), Lars  Kai Hansen (DTU, Lyngby),
William Baaré, Lars Hanson, Arnold Skimminge, Mark Schram Christensen, Tim B. Dyrby,
Henrik Lundell, Kathrine Skak Madsen, Kristoffer H. Madsen (DRCMR, Copenhagen).

Course organizers: Hartwig R. Siebner, Olaf B. Paulson, William Baaré, Tim Dyrby,
Mark S. Christensen and Kristoffer Madsen

Dates: 6, 7, 8 & 9. October, 2009

Place: Auditorium 1, Hvidovre Hospital, Kettegård Allé 30, DK-2650 Hvidovre

Fee: DKK 2.160,-

Course secretary: Ina Tech, DRCMR, MR-afdelingen, Afs. 340, Hvidovre Hospital,
Kettegård Allé 30, DK-2650 Hvidovre. E-mail: inatech#drcmr.dk. Tel.: +45 3632 3331.

Registration:  Admission for Ph.D. students will be allocated on a first-come,
first-served basis. Applications from external participants will be considered after
the closing date. The application must be sent to:
Ph.D. Administration, Blegdamsvej 3B, DK-2200, Copenhagen N.

A concensus paper written by 31 recognized international experts has just been published with Professor Hartwig R. Siebner from the DRCMR as first author. The paper serves as an important reference for future work in this rapidly evolving research field.

 The paper is available at the Brain Stimulation website, and it is entitled

Concensus paper: Combining transcranial stimulation with neuroimaging.

Authors:  Hartwig R. Siebner, MD, Til O. Bergmann, MD, Sven Bestmann, MD, Marcello Massimini, MD, Heidi Johansen-Berg, MD, Hitoshi Mochizuki, MD, Daryl E. Bohning, MD, Erie D. Boorman, MD, Sergiu Groppa, MD, Carlo Miniussi, MD, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, Reto Huber, MD, Paul C.J. Taylor, MD, Risto J. Ilmoniemi, MD, Luigi De Gennaro, MD, Antonio P. Strafella, MD, Seppo Kähkönen, MD, Stefan Klöppel, MD, Giovanni B. Frisoni, MD, Mark S. George, MD, Mark Hallett, MD, Stephan A. Brandt, MD, Matthew F. Rushworth, MD, Ulf Ziemann, MD, John C. Rothwell, MD, Nick Ward, MD, Leonardo G. Cohen, MD, Jürgen Baudewig, MD, Tomáš Paus, MD, Yoshikazu Ugawa, MD, Paolo M. Rossini, MD