Project: Simultaneous MEG or fMRI And INtracranial EEG

The SEMAINE project will leverage intracranial EEG (icEEG) simultaneously recorded with either fMRI or MEG to 1) improve identification of the epileptogenic zone in patients suffering from drug-resistant partial epilepsy, and 2) define the functional organisation of neural networks underlying human perception and cognition in order to prevent inadvertent deficits resulting from neurosurgical resection. In particular, high-frequency activity (HFA), as measured with icEEG, has been demonstrated in recent years as a relevant index for both epileptogenic tissue and healthy cortical processing, but its correlates in fMRI and MEG require further investigation. This will be a pioneering effort in several respects, as the first to directly measure high-frequency neural activity in tandem with fMRI, and among the first to do so with MEG. In addition to their attractiveness as noninvasive imaging techniques, fMRI and MEG have the potential to examine whole-brain networks that are not accessible to icEEG's necessarily limited spatial coverage. Furthermore, such a campaign of simultaneous recordings will take unprecedented advantage of icEEG as the bridge between the two noninvasive techniques, providing compelling evidence for the links between all three measurements with respect to underlying high-frequency neural activity in both health and disease. Together, the three project partners are uniquely qualified for this undertaking, comprising demonstrated expertise with the methods and application of each of the three recording techniques along with specializations in epileptology, cognitive neuroscience, neural signal processing, and construction of large-scale brain models. This project will therefore lead to improved selection of epilepsy surgery candidates and improved neurosurgical outcomes from the precise mapping of epileptogenic and healthy brain networks. Moreover, the same techniques will be immediately applicable to functional mapping of other types of neurosurgery populations as well as diagnostic neuroimaging of neurological and psychiatric populations.

Acronym	SEMAINE
Duration	01/01/2013 - 01/01/2016
Network	ERA-NET NEURON II
Call	Novel Methods and Approaches towards the Understanding of Brain Diseases

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Lyon Neuroscience Research Center	Coordinator	France
2	University of Konstanz	Partner	Germany
3	Universitat Pompeu Fabra	Partner	Spain