Why can some people learn to regulate their brain activity through neurofeedback while others cannot? Dr Antonia Kaiser has been awarded an SNSF Ambizione grant to investigate this question by looking at the brain’s chemistry. Neurofeedback gives people a live signal from their brain to help them practise regulating its activity. Most MRI neurofeedback studies use a signal based on blood flow, which reveals little about the neurochemical changes that may support learning.
In the four-year project, Antonia will use pain as a model to study how brain chemistry relates to neurofeedback success. She will first investigate whether neurochemical measurements can help predict who learns to regulate pain-related brain activity. She will then develop a way to measure changes in brain chemistry fast enough to use them as a live feedback signal, before testing whether people can learn with this new form of neurofeedback. The work combines MRI engineering with questions about brain function and behaviour. If successful, it could provide a foundation for future research into applications for people living with chronic pain.
The project will begin on the first of March 2027 and will be hosted at the University of Geneva with Prof. Patrik Vuilleumier of the CIBM MRI UNIGE Cognitive and Affective Neuroimaging Section. It will use the 7T MRI scanner at Campus Biotech in Geneva and be carried out in continued collaboration with Prof. Lijing Xin of the CIBM MRI EPFL MR Imaging Technology Section.
“I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to bring together the methods and ideas I’ve been learning and applying over the past few years in one project. I’m excited to work with Patrik, Lijing and colleagues across CIBM on something that is technically challenging, asks important questions about how the brain works, and could eventually be relevant to people living with chronic pain.”
CIBM conveys its heartiest congratulations to Antonia for the well deserved achievement.