The Santos Dumont Institute (ISD), in partnership with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Federal University of ABC (UFABC), University of São Paulo (USP), State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and the German company of NIRx neuroimaging, promotes on the 17th and 18th of February, a free international course on the use of fNIRS (Functional near-infrared spectroscopy) for motor and auditory research. 

The course will take place in two formats: online, with no limit on the number of participants, with speakers from four different countries; and in person in the Hands-On format, with a limit of 20 participants, and which will take place at the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neurosciences (IIN-ELS), an ISD unit in Macaíba (RN). Both modalities are free, with online registration. 

fNIRS is a neuroimaging technology that uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy to monitor brain activity. In a non-invasive and safe way, using a cap that is placed on the individual's head, it is possible to estimate the concentration of hemoglobin in different areas of the brain based on the infrared signal that is emitted through the scalp.

Manager of the IIN-ELS and one of the organizers of the event, Edgard Morya explains that this information makes it possible to expand the level of research carried out in neuroscience and neuroengineering when associated with other data, such as electrophysiological signals. “With this equipment, we can study blood flow in brain regions related to electrophysiology. With this, we can carry out more advanced research associating neural activity with metabolic activity”, he states. 

Among the confirmed speakers are Alexander von Lühmann, scientific director of NIRx Medical Technologies, visiting researcher at Boston University, with experience at Harvard Medical School and experience in the areas of biomedical engineering and neurotechnology; Silvia Benavides-Varela, assistant professor at the Università degli Studi di Padova, in Italy, in the Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization; Rickson Mesquita, professor at the Institute of Physics at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and who studies the propagation of light in turbid or dense media with applications in the areas of Medicine, Biology and Neuroscience; João Sato, from the Center for Mathematics, Computing and Cognition at UFABC; and Maria Adélia Aratanha, also a consultant at NIRx.