History of fMRI in Brno
It all started in 2000, when several clinics of the MU Faculty of Medicine joined together to introduce functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a new research method. Thanks to consultations with experts from the then Institute of Computer Science at the BUT (now the Faculty of Informatics), one of our former colleagues came to the neurology clinic as part of his civilian 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 for entering commands into headphones and a simple push-button response recording system. Among the main initiators of the development of fMRI in Brno were the then heads of the three clinics: prof. Krupa and prof. Češková.
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 began to process the data using SPM software. There was also a change in the technical team and we started writing PhD topics for physicians 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 getting these studies off the ground.
As the number of projects and measurements grew, so did our methodology, although not every project produced immediate results. We created our first fMRI website, but it is no longer updated. Areas studied by fMRI at that time included speech function, localization of motor areas and their reorganization before surgery, and others.
The year 2005 brought a significant step forward with a new research plan that supported the development of fMRI and the professionalization of the technical team. For the first time, we were able to publish results in the prestigious journal NeuroImage, comparing fMRI results with electrophysiological studies in patients with epilepsy.
Between 2005 and 2010 we established a close collaboration with the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the BUT. Together we prepared topics for bachelor, master and dissertation theses. We were also significantly supported by colleagues from the Institute of Instrumentation of the CAS and the Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses 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, where we had only limited time for measurements.
An interesting example of research from 2011-2014 is a study that focused on the "You don't think, you pay!" campaign. The results were published in the journal NeuroImage and showed differences in the activation of brain regions in safe and unsafe drivers.
In 2015, the Multimodal and Functional Imaging Laboratory - 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.