Naming Opportunity:
Electrophysiology Laboratory
$ 500,000

The electrophysiology laboratory consists of a 256-channel high density system for recording brain electrical (EEG) signals either in stand-alone studies or in conjunction with other imaging modalities.  This sytem, with the associated software and computer instrumentation costs approximately $200,000 and was purchased in 2000.  It is now in critical need to replacement as new technology with better resolution and improved signal processing capabilities has become available.  Brain electrical measurements from the scalp surface provide an important complement to our other imaging methods.  Brain electrical methods have excellent time resolution, on the order of milliseconds, whereas MR and PET methods have considerably less precise temporal resolution.  However, the spatial resolution of MR and PET are much better than EEG.  By combining MR or PET and EEG methods, we can achieve high spatial and temporal resolution which is very important in addressing certain specific questions.  For example, there is increasing evidence that certain anxiety disorders are associated with faster responding to specific types of threat cues in our environment.  Speed of responding in certain brain systems can be effectively studied with brain electrical methods.  And new mathematical techniques for inferring the underlying sources of the scalp-recorded activity allow us to gain better spatial resolution than has been previously available. 

A gift of $500,000 to the Brain Imaging Laboratory Endowment would provide a naming opportunity for the EEG Laboratory.  These funds would support equipment upgrades and enable us to retain our physicists who are continuously developing new methods to improve the spatial resolution of this method.  EEG is now being used in the study of autism, depression, aging, resilience and ADHD.   We need to upgrade this instrumentation as soon as possible and to provide long-term support to the physicist who develops these methods.