The International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) is the biggest international conference in the field of medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The 27th ISMRM was held on 16-21 June in Paris, France. Many teachers and students in our institute attended the conference and made oral and poster presentations. On the morning of June 21st, Dr. Guohua Xu (a.k.a Augix) gave a talk titled "A novel method for mesoscale connectome mapping: focal infrared neural stimulation in high-field functional MRI". The talk received the ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Awards. In this talk, Guohua introduced the development of a new technique led by him and Prof. Anna Wang Roe. This technique is a new method for studying brain connectivity. It combines 7T ultra-high field functional MRI and near-infrared laser stimulation. The purpose of developing this technique is to rapidly and systematically study primate connectomes at sub-millimeter resolution.

Dr. Guohua Xu studied the evolution of rice genome in Zhejiang University between 2000 and 2004, and received Bachelor degree in Agronomy. He then moved to France, studied the evolution of mouse genome, and received Master degree in Biomathematics in Bioinformatics from University of Lyon 1. Between 2006 and 2010, he worked in CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, and led a study between human and chimpanzee brain gene expression. In 2010, he started his Ph.D. program in Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and studied gene expression evolution in single cells in primate prefrontal cortices. In 2015, he joined Prof. Anna Wang Roe’s laboratory in Zhejiang University Interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience and Technology (ZIINT). His current research focus is the development of a new technique for connectome mapping.