Exploring the Developing Brain

http://www.childrenshospital.org/egrant

Surprisingly little is known about the brain before age 2 because of the challenges of imaging infants. But there's much to know, because rapidly developing brains are highly vulnerable to injury.

Neuroradiologist Ellen Grant, MD, is combining advanced imaging techniques with computer science to better understand the newborn and even fetal brain -- watching as it forms and folds, tracking the growth of individual brain structures, and detecting problems in brain organization before anything can be noticed by parents or physicians.

Children's Hospital Boston is building a neuroimaging facility with specially designed, baby-sized equipment — the only one in the world to be situated near a neonatal and pediatric ICU. It can help answer questions like: What prenatal brain development is missed when a baby is born even two weeks shy of its due date? What do abnormal growth patterns at 6 months mean for language development in preschool? Are treatments for brain injury effective?

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• brain
• children
• kids
• pediatric
• fetal brain
• developing brain
• MRI
• Ellen Grant
• Children's Hospital Boston
• Boston Children's
• hospital
• childrens
• prenatal
• brain structures
• imaging