Is functional connectivity dominated by neuromodulation?

Speaker: Shella Keilholz

Bio: Shella D. Keilholz received her B.S. degree in physics from the University of Missouri Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology), Rolla, MO, USA and her Ph.D. degree in engineering physics at the University in Virginia focused on quantitative measurements of perfusion with arterial spin labeling MRI. After graduation, she went to Dr.Alan Koretsky’s lab at the NIH as a Postdoctoral Researcher to learn functional neuroimaging. She is currently an Associate Professor in the joint Emory/Georgia Tech Biomedical Engineering Department, Atlanta, GA, USA. Her research seeks to elucidate the neurophysiological processes that underlie the BOLD signal and develop analytical techniques that leverage spatial and temporal information to separate contributions from different sources.

Talk Abstract: Functional connectivity is widely used to study the intrinsic organization of the brain’s activity, but what gives rise to the large-scale, coherent spatial patterns in the first place? Direct structural connections account for only part of the functional organization. One hypothesis is that neuromodulatory input from deep brain nuclei plays a coordinating role. I will present evidence from our lab and others that supports this hypothesis and suggests further experimental avenues.