Abstract
The formation of laminar and columnar organisation during development is a fundamental prerequisite for proper cortical function. While traditional histological techniques provided critical insights about cortical features these methods are limited by their destructive nature and time consuming processing. On the other hand, preclinical MRI provides whole brain coverage but current MRI methodologies do not routinely achieve the high spatial resolution required to visualise cortical organisation. The aim of this studentship is to develop new ultra-high resolution structural and diffusion MRI and analysis methods able to reproducibly and robustly probe cortical microstructure features at near histological resolution.
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