25 years of fMRI in Brno
The year 2025 will mark the celebration of the significant 25th anniversary of the introduction of functional MR imaging (fMRI) in Brno. This fundamental step started a new era in the development of imaging methods in neuroscience research, where fMRI was gradually complemented by other advanced imaging techniques, such as morphometric methods, diffusion and perfusion MR, MR spectroscopy, and also combined with various electrophysiological approaches and non-invasive brain stimulation.
In 2025, we will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of the start of operation of research MR scanners within the core facility MAFIL, CEITEC MU.
Below you will find a continuously updated list of related events and a retrospective view of a quarter of a century of functional brain mapping in Brno.
Planned events
27.9.2024 - Researchers' night - Transformations of the Brain over Time
10 - 16.3.2025 Brain Awareness Week - official website (czech only)
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History of fMRI in Brno
It all started in 2000, when several clinics of the Faculty of Medicine of the MU joined forces to introduce functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a new research method. Thanks to consultations with experts from the then Institute of Computer Technology of the BUT (now the Faculty of Informatics), one of our former colleagues came to the neurological clinic as part of the civil service and gradually began to address a number of technical challenges. The original team consisted of one computer scientist, one biomedical engineer and several enthusiastic doctors.
We started with a 1.5 T tomograph, a computer to input commands into the headphones, and a simple button response recording system. Among the main initiators of the development of fMRI in Brno were the heads of three clinics at the time: prof. Rector, Assoc. Krupa and Prof. Czech Republic.
At the turn of 2001 and 2002, we managed to install an optical system that enabled not only auditory but also visual stimulation by displaying words, sentences or pictures. At that time, we had already started several fMRI experiments and started processing the data using the SPM software. There was also a change in the technical team and we started listing PhD topics for doctors focused on the use of fMRI.
In 2003, we published the first scientific study in the journal Czech and Slovak Neurology and Neurosurgery, which presented the results of an fMRI study conducted in Brno. Prof. Brázdil, the current head of the neurology clinic, played a key role in starting these studies.
With the increasing number of projects and measurements, our methodology also developed, although not every project brought immediate results. We created the first website focused on fMRI, but it is no longer updated. Areas studied by fMRI at the time included speech functions, localization of motor areas and their reorganization before operations, and others.
The year 2005 brought a significant step forward with a new research project that supported the development of fMRI and the professionalization of the technical team. For the first time, we managed to publish results in the prestigious journal NeuroImage, when we compared fMRI results with electrophysiological studies in patients with epilepsy.
Between 2005 and 2010, we established close cooperation with the Department of Biomedical Engineering BUT. Together we prepared topics for bachelor's, diploma and dissertation theses. We were also significantly supported by colleagues from the Institute of Instrumentation of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Institute of Biostatistics and Analysis at MU.
In 2010, we celebrated 10 years of fMRI in Brno, when we had more than 30 projects, 1600 measurements and 11 scientific publications. However, the limiting factor was still the availability of the MR tomograph, when we only had a limited time for the measurements.
An interesting example of research from 2011-2014 is a study that focused on the campaign "You don't think, you pay!" The results were published in the journal NeuroImage and showed differences in the activation of brain regions in safe and dangerous drivers.
In 2015, the laboratory of multimodal and functional imaging - MAFIL - was put into full operation. This shared laboratory is available to all researchers from Masaryk University and other institutions in the Czech Republic and abroad.