Novel functional imaging tools to study the organization of the brain in health and disease

In this talk I will describe our efforts over the past few years to develop fMRI tools to study functional connectivity in the awake mouse. I will focus on a mouse model of the developmental genetic syndrome neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Using intrinsic functional connectivity MRI in this mouse model we were able to identify a novel cellular target that can potentially alleviate the cognitive phenotype of NF1 pediatric patients. I will conclude with a discussion of our current efforts to enable fMRI of behaving animals.