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Wearable Brain Imaging: Progress in MEG Technology
A panel discussion moderated by Patricia Kuhl, Co-Director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), will explore the challenges, advances, and extraordinary promise of quantum technology in wearable magnetoencephalography (MEG) devices. These innovations are expanding how researchers study brain activity in real-world settings and across the lifespan, with important implications for neuroscience involving infants, young children, and people with disabilities.
- Monday, October 27, 2025 | 2:30 PM
- Portage Bay Building, I-LABS Commons, Room 288
- Reception to follow at 3:45 PM
Challenges and Opportunities in Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Brain Science
Speaker: Samu Taulu, Associate Professor, UW Physics
MEG technology—based on Nobel Prize-winning SQUID sensors—offers an invaluable tool for understanding fundamental questions in neuroscience. Dr. Taulu will describe how this technology has been optimized for infant brain research, highlight challenges overcome, and discuss future directions made possible by wearable MEG systems.
Infant Discoveries Enabled by MEG
Speaker: Christina Zhao, Assistant Research Professor, UW Speech and Hearing Sciences
Recent advances in MEG technology have opened new opportunities for studying infant brain development. Dr. Zhao will review discoveries made possible by SQUID-based MEG systems and introduce research using emerging wearable optically pumped magnetometer (OPM)-based MEG devices.
Quantum Sensing the Brain: Next Generation MEG
Speaker: Matt Brookes, Professor, University of Nottingham Physics
Quantum sensing through OPM technology enables researchers to collect brain data during natural activities. Dr. Brookes will share how wearable MEG systems capture neural activity during movement, learning, and balance tasks, as well as findings on developmental changes in brain activity from infancy through adulthood.
This event is co-sponsored by the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) with support from the Paros Brain Research Fund and KEMi.
