Published on 03 Feb 2020

​​Psychology Seminar | Influence of Optical Cerebrovascular Elasticity on Brain and Cognitive Ageing 


EventInfluence of Optical Cerebrovascular Elasticity on Brain and Cognitive Ageing
Speaker
Asst Prof TAN Chin Hong
Assistant Professor at NTU and adjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, NUS
Date3 February 2020 (Monday)
Time10:30am – 11:45am
VenueSHHK Meeting Room 5 (SHHK-04-95), 48 Nanyang Avenue

Abstract
A healthy cerebrovascular system is essential for normal cognitive function and plays a critical role in brain and cognitive ageing. Recent studies have introduced a non-invasive approach of quantifying cerebrovascular health using diffuse optical tomography (pulse-DOT). This novel neuroimaging method estimates the cerebral arterial pulse across the cortex to extract measures indexing cerebral blood pressure and cerebrovascular elasticity. In this talk, I will introduce these methodological advancements and present findings showing the associations of cerebrovascular elasticity with demographic factors, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of brain health, and cognitive function in adults. Future research investigating the potential utility if this neurotechnology for translational research in clinical patients at risk of progression to dementia due to concomitant cerebrovascular disease will also be discussed.