Satellite meetings

Registration is now closed for this year’s Satellite meetings.

Please see below for further details, noting that all sessions will be delivered in a hybrid format, and available to attend in person or virtually.

The venue for all satellite meetings** is:

Edgbaston Park Hotel
Birmingham
B15 2RS

On arrival, please go to the registration desk, next to the main hotel reception to collect your badge and to be advised which meeting room you need to go to.

The registration desk will be open from 08.00.

Refreshments and lunch will be available at the times noted in each meetings individual programme.

**the only exception to this is the Monday morning WOPM sessions. The venue for this will be the Great Hall, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT.

You can use our interactive campus map or download a pdf copy here. The Great Hall is marked R6 in the red zone on our campus map.

If you have registered to attend virtually you will be emailed the link to join.

Workshop on Optically-Pumped Magnetometers – WOPM

Saturday 27 – Monday 29 August

Abstract

We are pleased to announce the 8th Workshop on Optically-Pumped Magnetometers WOPM-2022 as a satellite workshop at BIOMAG. In this workshop, we will cover all aspects and applications of optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs).

Further information can be found here

Timings

This workshop will start on Saturday evening with registration and dinner, also at Edgbaston Park Hotel

Registration and a welcome drink will be from 17.00, with dinner being served at 18.00.

There will then be a full day of sessions on Sunday, followed by a few hours on Monday morning. The full programme can be found here.

Algorithms in Biomagnetism: From Sensing, Forward Modeling, Imaging to Advanced Analytics

Sunday 28 August

Abstract

In this satellite workshop to Biomag2020, leading scientists in our field will provide brief talks on their cutting‐edge algorithms for biomagnetic signal analyses. The scope of the workshop will span advances in forward modeling, sensor-level analytics and interference suppression, source localization, functional connectivity, multimodal fusion, kernel reconstructions, and stimulus decoding. This workshop should provide a friendly atmosphere for discussion and exchange of ideas for the expert audience as well as an educational opportunity for students and fellows.

The programme can be viewed here

Timings

09.00 – 17.00

Hands-on Workshop on Human Neocortical Neurosolver: A New Tool for Cell and Circuit Level Interpretation of MEG/EEG signals

Sunday 28 August

Abstract

MEG/EEG signals are correlated with nearly all healthy and pathological brain functions. However, it is still extremely difficult to infer the underlying cellular and circuit level origins. This limits the translation of MEG/EEG signals into novel principles of information processing, or into new treatment modalities for pathologies. To address this limitation, we have built the Human Neocortical Neurosolver (HNN): an open-source software tool to help researchers and clinicians without formal computational modeling or coding experience interpret the neural origin of their human MEG/EEG data. HNN provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to an anatomically and biophysically detailed model of a neocortical circuit, with layer specific thalamocortical and cortical-cortical drives. Tutorials are provided to teach users how to begin to study the cell and circuit level origin of sensory event related potentials (ERPs) and low frequency rhythms in the alpha, beta and gamma band, based on our prior publications. Unique to HNN is an underlying neural model that accounts for the biophysics generating the primary electric currents underlying EEG/MEG signals, enabling visual and statistical comparison of model output to source localized data from a single brain area (in Am). Users can change model parameters in the GUI for testing hypotheses on signal differences under varied experimental conditions. Further, visualizations are shown of detailed circuit activity including layer specific responses, cell spiking activity, and membrane voltages. Once users have an understanding of the basic workflows and tutorials in the HNN GUI, those familiar with Python can work in the HNN-core Pythonic interface to apply and help further develop HNN, using best-practices in open-source software design.

In this hands-on workshop, we will begin with a didactic overview of the background and development of HNN.   We will then teach users how to use the HNN-GUI to study the circuit origin of some of the most commonly measured signals, including ERPs and low frequency brain rhythms. The GUI tutorials will be followed by instruction on how to work through these same examples using the HNN-core python interface. At the end of the workshop, we will allocate time to work directly with users who have source localized data that they wish to develop and test hypotheses on the neural underpinnings of using HNN.

Those who wish to attend this workshop should plan time ahead of the meeting to install and run HNN GUI and HNN core. We will help troubleshoot any issues ahead of time but regretfully will not have time during the workshop to troubleshoot installation. Further, for those who wish to bring data, will work with you ahead of time to make sure your data is in the correct format for HNN interpretation (please see https://jonescompneurolab.github.io/hnn-tutorials/starting_with_data/getting_started).  We are looking forward to introducing you to our one-of-a-kind tool for cell and circuit interpretation of MEG/EEG!

The programme can be viewed here

Timings

13.00 –17.00

Connecting to the networks of the human brain: combining TMS with EEG or MEG for closed-loop neurostimulation

Sunday 28 August

Abstract

In conventional transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), the stimulation site (locus) can be changed only slowly and real-time neurophysiological information cannot be taken into account, limiting TMS therapies to a single brain site and open-loop mode. Major efforts have recently begun to develop electronically controlled multi-locus closed-loop TMS. The new approach requires two advances: 1) Multilocus TMS (mTMS) coil array for fast and precise control over the location, direction, and intensity of TMS pulses; 2) real-time analysis of brain activity and connectivity from EEG or MEG for brain-state-dependent and closed-loop stimulation. This symposium will start by introducing two ways to measure brain state in real time during brain stimulation: TMS combined with EEG (Silvia Casarotto) and with MEG (Yoshio Okada). The challenge of developing optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) for large sensor arrays and for concurrent MEG recordings with TMS will be discussed by Svenja Knappe. Joana Cabral will give insights on brain network dynamics and how information of the ongoing dynamics can be extracted in real time from MEG or EEG signals. In the afternoon, the ERC Synergy project (2019–2025) ConnectToBrain will be portrayed; this project aims at making a breakthrough in mTMS and its use in closed-loop brain stimulation. The speakers from Aalto, Tübingen and Chieti-Pescara Universities will explain details of the mTMS technology, the approach towards brain-state-dependent and closed-loop mTMS, the use of MEG and fMRI data as a priori information for stimulus targeting, and experiments that will pave the way to a new era of brain stimulation.

The programme can be viewed here

Timings

09.15-17.00

European MEG Society one-day satellite workshop: “Investigation of human language with MEG: from research to clinical applications”

Sunnday 28 August

Abstract

This one-day satellite workshop aims at giving a novel start to the European MEG Society (EMEGS). This one-day workshop will start from a historical and general perspective about what MEG brought to the understanding of the neural bases of human language, and then move on to more advanced research fields investigating the cortical tracking of speech and the development of wearable MEG for language investigations. It will finish by clinical applications of MEG for language presurgical functional mapping and for understanding the pathophysiology of language-related disorders. The workshop will close with a collective discussion about the future of EMEGS.

The programme can be viewed here

Timings

08.30 – 16.30