Wednesday, September 12th, students from Freshmen to Seniors of the Concepción Industrial Lyceum learnt about the study of the brain via brain Magnetic Resonance images, and the exploration of the brain via Virtual Reality. The activity was organized by the biology teacher, Valerey Muñoz, and the chemistry teacher, Víctor Hernández, thanks to the CONICYT Explore Program and its initiative "1000 Scientists, 1000 Classrooms", that seeks to bring scientists to schools and lyceums, to share their knowledge and experiences. In this activity, professor Pamela Guevara presented basic concepts about the acquisition and analysis of Magnetic Resonance images for the study of the brain, and projects made in the context of Projects FONDECYT 1161427 and CONICYT PIA/"Anillo de Investigación en Ciencia y Tecnología ACT172121". Afterwards, the alumnus of Biomedical Civil Engineering, Ignacio Espinoza, exhibited his Thesis, which consisted of the development of a Virtual Reality application for the 3D exploration of the brain, financed by the same project. The application allows to know the lobes, convolutions, subcortical structures and main fascicles of the brain fibers. It was made using Unity and Blender software, and allows for the interaction between the Oculus Rift virtual reality lens and the Leap Motion device. Exposition Title: "Study of the brain via Brain Magnetic Resonance and Virtual Reality" Description: "The brain is one of the most studied organs of the human body. It's special due to its complexity and the great amount of functions that performs and controls. Magnetic Resonance (MR) images are increasingly used for the study of the brain, as well as for the diagnostic of various diseases. The most utilized ones are anatomical images, through which the volume, form, and appearance of different structures can be studied. There's also MR images weighted by diffusion, which allow to reconstruct the main brain fibers. In this exposition it is roughly explained the content and utilization of these images. A Virtual Reality demo is included, for the exploration of different brain structures, developed at Universidad de Concepción."  

Friday, September 7th, seven Juniors and Seniors from Mozart School, along with their Physics teacher, Pablo Beltrán, attended to talks organized by the Department of Informatics Engineering and Computer Sciences. First, professor Javier Vidal showed projects made in a practical subject, by freshmen of Informatics Civil Engineering, where they use the Arduino platform. Then, the master's student, Andrea Vásquez, and the Biomedical Civil Engineering student, Felipe Silva, presented the study of the brain made by the Medical Image Analysis Group, led by professor Pamela Guevara, in collaboration with professor Cecilia Hernández. After the description of neurons, brain fibers, and the brain in general, they showed results of the FONDECYT 1161427 and CONICYT PIA/"Anillo de Investigación en Ciencia y Tecnología ACT172121" Projects. In particular, a method for the fast clustering of brain fibers obtained with Difussion Magnetic Resonance Imaging was presented, as well as the study of their connectivity and visualization. This extension activity had the goal of motivating the students towards Computing and its relation with other areas.

In the last months, various students from the Medical Images Analysis Group have defended their works, which have been developed in the context of the FONDECYT 1161427 Project. In the month of July, Andrea Vásquez, presented her Masters in Computer Science Thesis proposal, titled: "Efficient method for the clustering of brain fibers based on parallel algorithm on GPU", codirected by professor Cecilia Hernández. In the month of August, Narciso López defended his PhD in Computer Science Thesis proposal, titled: "Parcellation of the brain cortex from the segmentation of short fiber fascicles". Two students also defended their Biomedical Civil Engineering Thesis: Ignacio Espinoza, with his work "Virtual Reality Software for the 3D Exploration of the Brain", and Daniela Pinto, with the topic "Segmentation of short Brain Fibers based on its form starting from Difussion Magnetic Resonance Imaging images". All of these works contribute with the objective of developing tools that allow for a more detailed study of the brain connectivity, both in healthy subjects, as in patients.