Descripción del proyecto
Una herramienta de código abierto para la obtención de imágenes cerebrales en alta resolución
La electroencefalografía (EEG) es una técnica atraumática básica para registrar la actividad eléctrica en el cerebro, algo fundamental para diagnosticar ataques epilépticos y mejorar las interfaces cerebro-ordenador. Uno de los principales inconvenientes de la EEG es resolver eficazmente el denominado «problema inverso»: determinar la distribución de la actividad eléctrica en el cerebro a partir de mediciones de EEG en el cuero cabelludo. En el proyecto TurboEEG, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación, se pretende resolver este escollo desarrollando una herramienta de generación de imágenes de EEG de código abierto que reduzca la complejidad computacional y, además, mejore drásticamente la velocidad y la accesibilidad. Esta innovación hará que la tecnología de EEG de alta resolución sea más asequible y esté más ampliamente disponible para la formación y la investigación sobre el cerebro.
Objetivo
Electroencephalography (EEG) from scalp potentials is a crucial non-invasive technique for imaging the electric brain activity. EEG is of primary importance in several scenarios of substantial societal impact ranging from electric characterization of epileptic seizures to the development of brain computer interfaces.
One of the key technologies in advanced EEG imaging is the source imaging/localization procedure where the volume electric current responsible for the scalp potential is obtained solving an inverse source problem, in turn requiring several solutions of the EEG forward problem. The imaging of the brain currents is what makes the standard EEG readings into high resolution EEG brain imaging.
Lamentably, the standard EEG forward problem has cubical computational complexity resulting in an eight times increase in computer memory and computational time every time the problem doubles in size. This substantially limits the impact of EEG imaging, especially in low power computational systems and in social settings that cannot afford expensive computing machines.
The object of the “TurboEEG” project is to radically change this paradigm, we will translate the outcomes of the ERC Consolidator Grant project “321” into the field of EEG neuroimaging obtaining and distributing the first existing EEG open source package that will solve the EEG imaging problem in linear complexity, speeding up standard EEG imaging of orders of magnitude and making high resolution EEGs widely available and cheap.
Since EEG source imaging is what translate a standard EEG device into an high resolution one, the new open source tool will have a substantial impact on society by making available high resolution EEG technology in environments where top computational power is not available, such as small hospitals, ambulatories, schools and universities. The new open-source tool will in fact also have a substantial impact on education, professional training, and brain research.
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept GrantsInstitución de acogida
10129 Torino
Italia