At the 6th BaCI (Basic Clinical and Multimodal Imaging) Conference, held with the participation of 60 international researchers from 12 different countries and hosted by Üsküdar Üniversitesi, the latest developments in neuroscience, genetics, and medicine were discussed. Prof. Dr. Derek Fisher, from Saint Vincent University in Canada and also the President of the EEG and Clinical Neuroscience Society (ECNS), emphasized that new neuroimaging technologies will shorten the time until early treatment, stating that they can see how the brain looks with which medication or how the medication reverses certain conditions through brain mapping methods. Prof. Dr. Pinhas Dannon, also a speaker at the conference, stated that new technologies will bring more success to physicians and less pain to patients.
Prof. Dr. Derek Fisher, known for his work in cognitive and clinical neuroscience from Saint Vincent University in Canada, stated in his conference speech that he primarily conducts research on psychosis in the brain, examining how the brain changes in the context of schizophrenia and psychosis.
Prof. Dr. Fisher: “The treatments we currently provide are a kind of guesswork or methods that worked in the past.”
Prof. Dr. Fisher, also touching upon biomarkers and schizophrenia, said, “There are many things we can do with new neuroimaging technologies. An area where we can do a good job will be to use technologies to classify patient groups. The treatments we currently provide are a kind of guesswork or methods that worked in the past. However, they are not personalized. Therefore, it will be to make maximum use of imaging technologies to identify specific changes in the brains of individuals who may respond better or worse to certain treatments. This will shorten the time until patients receive truly effective early treatment.”
Prof. Dr. Fisher: “We can see how the brain looks with which medication”
Prof. Dr. Fisher, also referring to how the development of neuroimaging technologies can be used to create personalized treatment plans, stated, “We know there are great studies showing QEEG (brain mapping), and thus, for example, certain medications produce specific key EEG patterns. We can see how the brain looks with which medication or how the medication reverses certain conditions. This provides a clue as to which medication or medications would be more effective to start.”
Prof. Dr. Fisher, emphasizing the importance of finding the most effective treatment for patients and connecting them with it earlier, said, “This situation will positively affect the quality of life of patients.”
Prof. Dr. Fisher also touched upon the effectiveness of neuroimaging methods in schizophrenia, stating:
“Multimodal imaging is very important. By combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and EEG, I believe we can make an early differential diagnosis when there is uncertainty, such as whether we are looking at schizophrenia, bipolar, or an emotional disorder. When a person is afflicted with a chronic disease, it will also be important to use it to monitor the progression of the disease. For this, we actually have some markers that we need to prove.”
Prof. Dr. Pinhas Dannon: “It will give us more success, and patients less pain”
Another speaker at the conference, Prof. Dr. Pinhas Dannon, Director of Psychiatry at Herzog Medical Center, Israel, regarding how technological developments will contribute to patient treatment in the future, said, “Treating a psychiatric patient today is a very difficult task. Because you don’t know what’s going on inside the patient’s brain, you try to treat the symptoms instead of treating the same person. This is where imaging techniques will help us in the future. They will give us more success and less pain for patients.”
Prof. Dr. Pinhas Dannon also pointed out how developments in neuroimaging technologies can be used to create personalized treatment plans, stating, “You are different from me, I am different from you. Everyone is different, and we have different ways of thinking, different genetic profiles. Information and techniques have the potential to show these differences. In this way, we can focus not only on their problems but also on their well-being.”
Prof. Dr. Dannon: “We can develop the medicine of the future together”
Regarding how to create the medicine of the future, Prof. Dr. Dannon said, “We must be integrated, we must work together. We must build something together. In this way, we can develop the medicine of the future.”
Prof. Dr. Dannon also touched upon the impact of neuroimaging technologies on medical education, continuing:
“Medical education is developing at a speed we can’t even imagine. Let’s put it this way, I saw a computer for the first time when I was in my second year of medical school. Today, when you buy a high-tech machine, you can throw it away after 6 months. Because there is a better version of the same machine. In fact, there is a better version of the same capabilities. The entire future in the field of technology is in our hands.”
60 international researchers from 12 different countries participated
At the conference held between September 03-07, 2023, at Üsküdar Üniversitesi NP Health Campus, 60 international researchers from 12 different countries discussed the latest developments in neuroscience, genetics, and medicine.
Within the scope of the program, an honorary doctorate was presented to Prof. Monte Buchsbaum, considered a pioneer of neuroimaging technologies, by Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Üsküdar Üniversitesi.
All information regarding the Basic Clinical and Multimodal Imaging (BaCI) Congress can be accessed at https://baci-conference2023.com/.