[Editors] News Advisory: Biomagnetism is Focus of Boston Conference

[Elizabeth Thomson]

MIT News Office
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room 11-400
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
Phone: 617-253-2700
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www

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News Advisory: Biomagnetism is Focus of Boston Conference
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For Immediate Release
TUESDAY, AUG. 3, 2004


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Editors/Reporters: You are invited to cover this conference

When: Sunday, August 8- Thursday, August 12, 2004

Where: Westin Hotel, Copley Place, Boston

For more information go to: http://biomag2004.org/ or contact 
Dr. George Adelman, adelman1 at MIT.EDU, (617) 253-7960

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-Over 600 scientists and researchers from around the world will convene in Boston August 8-12 to discuss new developments in the field of biomagnetism, the study of magnetic fields produced by the brain and other organs of the body and the various new techniques and instrumentation used to measure these fields. 

Biomag 2004 attendees will present papers and posters covering the latest advances in biomagnetic research on memory and other aspects of cognition (including language), vision, audition, and other sensory and motor systems. Also included will be clinical-research studies aimed at developing methods of diagnosing particular nervous system problems - epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, and mental diseases, such as schizophrenia. 

The basic biology and physics of the sources of biomagnetism in the body will be covered by groups of bioscientists and bioengineers. Another group of researchers will discuss the measurement and diagnosis of various cardiac and lung problems.

A primary application of biomagnetism is Magnetoencephalography (MEG), the measurement of the magnetic fields produced by the brain. The use of this measurement method, invented at MIT's Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, has been successfully applied to the understanding of functions of both the healthy and diseased brains. Biomag 2004 will feature exciting new programs and efforts in multi-modal imaging, where MEG is combined with other imaging techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study and locate clinical-medical problems. 

Biomag 2004 is sponsored by the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, a partnership between the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School. 

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Elizabeth A. Thomson
Assistant Director, Science & Engineering News
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
News Office, Room 11-400
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
617-258-5402 (ph); 617-258-8762 (fax)
<thomson at mit.edu> 

<http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www>
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