London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF) Specialist Lecture

“Shining light on the function of the brain: Optics in medicine”

 
How can we explore the oxygenation of the brain? That’s one of the questions that near-infrared spectroscopy could answer. On Monday 7th August, Dr Gemma Bale presented a specialist lecture to the London International Youth Science Forum at Imperial College London to a group of young scientists from all over the world. The lecture covered the function of the brain, how near-infrared light can monitor changes in brain activity, and how it could be used to save lives in the future.

 

read more

The lecture began with Dr Gemma explaining how near-infrared spectroscopy works and went on to show how she uses her equipment to monitor brain injury in newborn babies. After this, with the help of a volunteer from the audience, she made an optical model of the brain (made of water, food colourings and milk) and showed how infrared light interacts with it.

 

At the end of the session the participants were allowed to ask questions and had an interesting discussion with Dr Gemma. They said thanks for the amazing lecture, mentioned how important this investigation is, and how this could change people’s lives. They also mentioned how much they enjoyed the lecture and we hope that she comes back for LIYSF 2018!

 

Written by Aranza Meza Dorantes, LIYSF Ambassador

read less

Back to top
Home page logos