Expanding Frontiers of Neuroimaging

Scientists’ understanding of the structure and function of the human brain will be significantly advanced through the addition of a new human MRI scanner at TAU’s Alfredo Federico Strauss Center for Computational Neuroimaging. The center is a framework serving 28 research teams working in neuroscience across five faculties at the University. 

The cornerstone for the scanner, which will enable imaging of the human brain, was laid at a ceremony attended by Mr. Guillermo Strauss of Argentina, who represented his mother, Charlotte, and sisters, Mariana, Margarita and Sylvia, at the event.

The new MRI machine will significantly advance Tel Aviv University’s position as a national leader in neuroimaging and brain science. This highly interdisciplinary field is crucial to understanding human behavior and seeking cures for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and stroke.

Speaking at the ceremony, TAU President Joseph Klafter praised Guillermo Strauss as “a true friend of TAU. You have always been interested and involved and shown that you truly care. You are a model for others to engage in fostering TAU’s research capabilities for the benefit of all,” he said.  

The human MRI scanner will augment the Strauss Center’s existing animal MRI, which has played a vital part in international projects and in dozens of articles in prestigious scholarly journals.

This year, the Strauss Center led an international initiative to create the first complete “atlas” of white matter in the brain. Using special imaging techniques developed at the Strauss Center, this project is providing crucial insight into the brain’s microstructure.

Head of the Strauss Center, Prof. Yaniv Assaf, said that the expansion of the facilities at the Center has played a major role in attracting the best and most talented new faculty members to the University. The new scanner will also give the teams improved abilities to analyze the animal and human brains together, he said.