Introducing the Neurovascular Modelling Group

Functional MRI depends on a delicate interplay of neural and vascular processes, which we interpret through the lens of mathematical models. However, the models we have today are not fit-for-purpose for addressing some major challenges in clinical and cognitive neuroscience. In clinical research, there is a need to disentangle neural and vascular contributions to neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders – such as Alzheimer’s disease, which is my focus. In cognitive neuroscience, interpretation of high-resolution 7T laminar fMRI is complicated by the lack of a model that accounts for the movement of blood between layers of cortex (creating a well-known “superficial bias”). These challenges are being addressed by the newly formed Neurovascular Modelling Group at the FIL, which I will introduce in this talk.