Lotta María Ellingssen, Assistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The study centres on developing a new method for medical image processing that can be used to find and quantify variations in children's brains from magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs)," says Lotta María Ellingsen who is currently seeking ways to find connections between variations in the brain and genetic variation in children with mental disability. "Information of this kind could provide indications of the causeS of mental disability," says Lotta.
The current methods in image processing have, according to her, been developed and tested on images of adults and are thus not suitable for children. "The disability is, however, usually diagnosed in early childhood and it is thus vital to have at one's disposal methods that work for that age group."
Lotta María Ellingssen
"Basic research can be extremely beneficial for society as it can lead to new possibilities in healing, and even new growth companies; creating jobs and revenue for the community at large."
Lotta says that preliminary results from the study indicate that the basic methodology of the new image processing method works well for MRIs in children. "Next on the agenda is to find precisely how little or how large variations can be found with this method in various areas of the brain."
The importance of this basic research is evident and it could prove useful for progress in various fields of medicine, genetics and image processing.
"Basic research can be extremely beneficial for society as it can lead to new possibilities in healing, and even new growth companies; creating jobs and revenue for the community at large," says Lotta who is enthusiastic about her research.
"You are always learning something new. What is most exciting is to be on the verge of discovering something no-one else has. The possibility of discovering something new is my driving force, concludes the young research scientist.