Michele Desjardins

Functional connectivity and graph-theoretical properties of resting-state networks are showing promise as eventual clinical markers of neurological diseases. However, being measured with blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging, they reflect the interplay between neurons and blood vessels, which are themselves affected by these diseases. In animal models, direct measures of neuronal and vascular structure and function can be achieved using multiphoton microscopy, but are limited by a trade-off between temporal resolution, spatial resolution, and field-of-view. This talk will present our ongoing developments towards establishing tools for studying neuro-vascular interactions across spatial scales in the awake mouse brain. On the experimental side, we are designing a multimodal microscope combining Bessel focus two-photon microscopy and optical coherence tomography that will allow to record microscale video-rate neuronal and vascular dynamics in 3D volumes in vivo. Mesoscale cortical neurovascular interactions are measured using widefield imaging of fluorescent, intrinsic and speckle contrast signals. On the data science side, we are developing models for integrating vascular parameters into biophysical bottom-up and top-down linear models of fMRI signals. Current applications include the study of neuronal and vascular networks as they evolve during aging.

Driven by her bachelor's degree in physics, Dr. Desjardins obtained a doctorate in biomedical engineering in joint supervision from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6) and the École Polytechnique de Montréal, completed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. She is now an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics at Université Laval, and a researcher at the CHU de Québec-Université Laval Research Center. Her research focuses on in vivo imaging of blood vessels and oxygenation.

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