Modelling the mechanics of the brain Researchers in the BRAINIACS group are combining experiments, modelling and simulations to build a fuller picture of how mechanics and different forces affect brain function. This could ultimately help clinicians diagnose neurological disorders at an earlier stage and also treat them more effectively, as Dr Silvia Budday explains. The human brain
is enormously complex and research into its function by nature crosses disciplinary boundaries, so it’s important to bring scientists from different areas together to build a deeper understanding. Based at the FriedrichAlexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany, Dr Silvia Budday is Research Group Leader of the BRAINIACS project, an initiative looking at the mechanics of the brain. “We bring our mechanics knowledge to this topic,” she says. The mechanics of brain tissue has been relatively neglected in historical terms, with most research attention devoted to other topics like neuroscience and biology, yet Dr Budday says awareness of its wider relevance is growing. “When we talk with clinicians or neuroscientists we find that there are certain phenomena they cannot explain. Some of those phenomena can then be explained from a physical or mechanical point of view,” she outlines. “The field of brain mechanics is growing.”
Brain mechanics Research in this area involves looking not only at the stiffness of the brain, but also the forces that act on it and which may then affect its functioning. During brain development, folds emerge in the neocortex, a process that researchers in the project are now working to model. “We use continuum mechanics modelling to predict the folding process, which happens on the tissue or organ scale,” says Dr Budday. Alongside the largerscale processes, Dr Budday and her colleagues are also considering processes that occur on the micro or cellular scale. “There are cells that divide, migrate and interconnect. We include those processes, in connection with the folding process, through growth and diffusion models,” she explains. “We also develop models to predict brain stiffness and investigate how micro-structural parameters determine the macroscopic stiffness.” The different models developed in the project are built on the basic laws of physics. These models are designed to provide an
www.euresearcher.com
insight into the impact of mechanical forces on brain tissue, for example how a specific deformation or displacement is related to stress on the brain. “How much force do I need to deform the tissue to a certain extent?” outlines Dr Budday. These models build on experimental data; both human and animal tissue have been characterised, while researchers have also used data from other sources. “We not only use the mechanical data that we can generate ourselves, but also
This research holds wider relevance to the diagnosis and treatment of certain neurological disorders related to malformations in the brain. When brain mechanics go wrong during development then folds do not emerge correctly and these neural connections cannot form, leading to health problems later on. “Children who suffer from this have neurological disorders, such as epilepsy,” outlines Dr Budday. The models developed by the project are
When we talk with clinicians or neuroscientists we find that there are certain phenomena they cannot explain. Some of those phenomena can then be explained from a physical or mechanical point of view. data from images. We use microstructural analyses, which can be histology or immunohistochemistry, as well as data from MRI scans to assess the macroscopic structure,” continues Dr Budday. “We have also analysed evidence of brains in the foetus, to determine cell density at different stages of development.”
designed to give researchers a deeper picture of the processes that lead to these malformations in the brain, which could eventually lead to improved treatment of neurological disorders. “Children with epilepsy can be treated more effectively if you know more precisely where in the neocortex neurons are firing when they
The BRAINIACS team
25
