Emerging In Vivo Brain Mapping Technologies for Neuroscience Research

Brain mapping technologies have been playing instrumental roles in neuroscience research, and the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases, by providing tools to visualize and quantify anatomical, functional, and molecular details in the brain at a range of spatial-temporal scales. In recent years, various emerging technologies have demonstrated exciting capabilities to map cellular and molecular processes in living animals and humans that were previously only assessable by invasive and destructive methods. These in vivo technologies empower neuroscientists to ask new questions, make new discoveries, and may also provide novel biomarkers for more precise and personalized managements of many brain disorders.

In this Research Topic, we seek contributions that propose, discuss, or review emerging in vivo brain mapping technologies that have the potential to significantly impact neuroscience research. The goals are 1) to provide a platform to disseminate the latest progress in cutting-edge brain mapping technologies that have the most potential to be translated to living animals and humans; 2) to present a comprehensive and in-depth review of these techniques to help researchers in relevant areas understand and appreciate the novel imaging capabilities and limitations; 3) to increase the awareness of new imaging technologies in the neuroscience community to facilitate their translation and multidisciplinary collaborations; 4) to inspire the next generation of researchers to join the efforts in developing and optimizing novel in vivo brain mapping technologies and applying them to address new neuroscience questions and also translating them to clinical populations.

Articles that propose new developments and optimizations or review state-of-the-art in emerging in vivo brain mapping technologies are welcome. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Two-photon and multiphoton imaging
• In vivo optical and fluorescence brain imaging methods
• Super-resolution optical imaging of brain activities
• Novel voltage or calcium sensitive optical probes for neuronal activities
• Photoacoustic imaging and computed tomography
• Neuroimaging and neural recording methods for free behaving animals
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based neuroimaging
• Ultrafast, ultrahigh-resolution functional MRI
• Quantitative MRI of the brain
• Molecular and cellular MRI, MR spectroscopic imaging
• Functional and super-resolution ultrasound imaging of the brain
• Nuclear imaging (i.e., SPECT and PET) of the brain
• Dynamic metabolic imaging of the brain
• Animal model development in synergy with novel application of brain mapping technologies
• Molecular and cell-specific probe development in synergy with novel application of brain mapping technologies

Submissions related to the imaging modalities listed above but are not relevant and/or have not been demonstrated for brain mapping are not considered.

Keywords: Brain Mapping Technologies, Neuroimaging, Neuroscience, imaging

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.