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Leaders of UTSW\u2019s Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Program, from left to right: Amy Proskovec, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Radiology and the Advanced Imaging Research Center (AIRC); Sasha Alick-Lindstrom, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Neurology and Radiology and MEG Clinical Epilepsy Director; Elizabeth Davenport, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Radiology, AIRC, and Biomedical Engineering and MEG Technical Director; Adriana Ohm, MEG Technologist; Afsaneh Talai, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology; and Natascha Cardoso da Fonseca, M.D., Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher.<\/p>\n
DALLAS \u2013 Aug. 21, 2025 \u2013 Most days, neurologist Sasha Alick-Lindstrom, M.D., M.P.H., FAAN, FACNS, FAES<\/a>, can be found staring at rows of brain signals on multiple computer screens, inspecting the squiggly lines for any irregularities or spikes of electrical activity.<\/p>\n Today she\u2019s working in her office, but she could just as easily be in the hospital, her home office, the lab, or a classroom because, as Clinical Epilepsy Director of UT\u00a0Southwestern Medical Center’s\u00a0Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Center of Excellence<\/a>, that\u2019s the job: reading between the lines, literally, to unlock the mystery of her patients\u2019 crippling seizures.<\/p>\n The MEG is a state-of-the-art neuroimaging machine that can capture the brain\u2019s signals with unparalleled precision. It relies on 306 sensors that, when secured to a patient\u2019s head, pick up the magnetic fields produced by the brain\u2019s electrical activity with ultra-high-speed temporal resolution.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n And much like a detective, Dr. Alick-Lindstrom, an Associate Professor of Neurology<\/a> and Radiology<\/a> at UTSW, tracks down all 306 leads to find the misfiring neurons. She works side by side with Elizabeth Davenport, Ph.D.<\/a>, MEG Technical Director and Assistant Professor of Radiology at UT\u00a0Southwestern, and Amy Proskovec, Ph.D.<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Radiology, to take the raw data the MEG churns out and create a highly detailed 3D brain map to trace the seizures to their source.<\/p>\n Each Wednesday, they join about a dozen other specialists \u2013 neurosurgeons, radiologists, neuropsychologists, neuropsychiatrists, medical fellows, and a team of adult and pediatric epileptologists \u2013 for a larger surgical conference to review patient cases and pool the team\u2019s collective findings to devise a clear diagnosis and treatment plan.<\/p>\n \u201cMEG is clinically approved to localize epilepsy disorders and perform presurgical mapping,\u201d Dr. Davenport said.<\/p>\n And its impact has been profound in that regard. Since 2020, the MEG program has helped hundreds of patients like 17-year-old Aarush Gotur, who was experiencing up to 25 seizures a day when he first came to Children\u2019s Health and UTSW and now has been seizure-free for nearly two years. MEG has also cemented UTSW\u2019s designation as a Level 4 Epilepsy Center, the highest level awarded by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC)<\/a>, representing the most advanced care for epilepsy at a high-volume center. It was Joseph Maldjian, M.D.<\/a>, Professor of Radiology at UT\u00a0Southwestern and Director of the Advanced Neuroscience Imaging Research (ANSIR) Lab<\/a>, who had the vision and prescience to appeal to UTSW leaders and secure the $6 million in capital funding needed to bring the MEG machine online.<\/p>\n Joseph Maldjian, M.D., is Professor of Radiology and Director of the Advanced Neuroscience Imaging Research Lab at UT\u00a0Southwestern.<\/p>\n Now UTSW is testing the limits of this technology beyond epilepsy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe MEG has boundless research potential for all manner of neurological disorders \u00a0including Alzheimer\u2019s disease, traumatic brain injuries, autism, and schizophrenia, just to name a few,\u201d said Dr. Davenport.<\/p>\n Several such studies are already underway in labs at UT\u00a0Southwestern, which houses one of the fewer than 50 clinical MEG sites<\/a> nationwide and serves the widest range of patient populations in North Texas.<\/p>\n The MEG brain trust<\/p>\n UTSW\u2019s MEG program distinguishes itself in another way: The team of researchers, technologists, and physicians who run it consists almost entirely of women \u2013 an outlier in a highly specialized, male-dominated field. Dr. Davenport once described the community of MEG scientists as so small as to be able to \u201cfit around a dinner table.\u201d<\/p>\n This MEG image shows delta wave activity captured from a teenage football player participating in a UT\u00a0Southwestern concussion study.<\/p>\n Dr. Alick-Lindstrom added: \u201cAt conferences, typically attended by the same MEG researchers and clinicians, our team turns heads because we are usually the only women there.\u201d<\/p>\n Afsaneh Talai, M.D.<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics<\/a> and Neurology at UTSW and a member of the MEG team, focuses on treating children with intractable epilepsy disorders and believes patients benefit from the UTSW team\u2019s different backgrounds and experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can treat them more holistically,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is especially true in a specialty as narrow as ours, and we\u2019re better able to troubleshoot problems as they come up.\u201d<\/p>\n A good example: One time when the staff was having trouble securing sensors, Dr. Davenport solved the issue by suggesting fashion tape.<\/p>\n Widening the field to women and recruiting more MEG trainees from varied backgrounds in general would introduce a heterogeneity of ideas and accelerate research, Dr. Alick-Lindstrom said. Before UT\u00a0Southwestern launched its MEG program in late 2019, Drs. Alick-Lindstrom and Talai had to travel to Houston to receive specialized training.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to advance the field and the technology, and that requires an investment in talent,\u201d Dr. Alick-Lindstrom said. \u201cMEG has been around since the first prototype was introduced around 1969, and there are so many research applications to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n She and Dr. Davenport were awarded UTSW\u2019s 2023 Synergy Grant for Collaborative Research and are currently investigating the use of a more mobile MEG device. Instead of the hulking piece of machinery that must be housed in a suite surrounded by 1-foot-thick walls to block out signal interference, the two hope to scale it down to something smaller and easier to maneuver, similar to an easily transportable helmet. The equipment was recently acquired.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is to eventually be able to deploy it for rapid-response situations, such as a traumatic brain injury or seizures on-site, rather than having to transport the patient to our center,\u201d Dr. Alick-Lindstrom said.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Davenport, Ph.D., MEG Technical Director and Assistant Professor of Radiology at UT\u00a0Southwestern, likens the MEG to Google Maps for the brain.<\/p>\n Exploring Alzheimer\u2019s, depression, and concussion<\/p>\n Dr. Davenport often describes the MEG by comparing it to Google Maps for the brain. It can look at locations and neighborhoods and pinpoint street-level information such as traffic jams and accidents through brain signal data \u2013 which is one reason why so many UTSW scientists are eager to integrate the MEG into their research.<\/p>\n For instance, the landmark Dallas Heart Study<\/a> (DHS) is incorporating MEG data in its third phase, which has about 1,500 participants who agreed to undergo a bevy of scans, including MEG, to probe the link among certain cardiovascular risk factors, aging, and cognitive function. Launched in 2000, the DHS has generated more than two decades of valuable data related to heart health and has spawned at least 230 papers in medical journals advancing the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and heart failure. The scope of the program was expanded in 2020, when it was renamed the Dallas Hearts and Minds Study, and investigators are hopeful its findings could lead to new discoveries related to dementia and other memory disorders.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n MEG provides an extremely valuable method to precisely map brain networks and the effect of stimulation with exquisite spatial and physiological detail that is not available with any other brain mapping techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to know how the MEG technology can be applied to studies in Alzheimer\u2019s disease,\u201d Dr. Davenport said. \u201cThere is a signal that we can see on MEG that we think is an early biomarker that appears before any symptoms. That\u2019s a question Dr. Proskovec is working on: Can we use this data to diagnose Alzheimer\u2019s disease? And, eventually, can it be used one day as a screening procedure?\u201d<\/p>\n Nader Pouratian, M.D., Ph.D.<\/a>, Chair and Professor of Neurological Surgery<\/a>, is investigating conditions such as treatment-resistant\u00a0depression and movement disorders. He was recently awarded a grant of up to $5 million from the Raynor Cerebellum Project<\/a> and is leading a team to develop neuromodulation therapies for disorders of the cerebellum, which controls muscles and motor movement, balance, and certain cognitive functions.<\/p>\n \u201cOur ability to use brain stimulation to treat neurological and psychiatric disease has been severely limited by an incomplete understanding of how these diseases affect brain networks and how to precisely tune brain stimulation to repair those networks,\u201d he said. \u201cMEG provides an extremely valuable method to precisely map brain networks and the effect of stimulation with exquisite spatial and physiological detail that is not available with any other brain mapping techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Davenport is using MEG to lead a study on the brain activity of adolescent athletes with concussions. The aim is to deepen understanding of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and improve the standard of care for patients 17 and younger, who make up about 70% of emergency department visits for sports- and recreation-related TBIs and concussions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re really interested in is getting these athletes in the MEG scanner within the first 72 hours of\u00a0concussion\u00a0because we think it\u2019s going to be the most predictive of how they will heal. Better data will allow us to give a more precise prognosis, including when it will be safe for them to return to play and how they will respond to certain medications,\u201d Dr. Davenport explained. \u201cWhat sets us apart is we are one of the few to do this with pediatric patients, which means we\u2019re working with a more vulnerable population. Their brains are still developing, which makes it a harder problem to address because there are more variables.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Davenport and the MEG team are no strangers to firsts.\u00a0Their reputation is growing nationally, and recently they were the first to employ a new brain-mapping software that featured an improved user interface, making the system and its data easier to navigate and access. UTSW was chosen to pilot the program because of the high number of patients the MEG team sees.<\/p>\n A world of difference for patients<\/p>\n While MEG technology is playing an ever-expanding role in the future of brain research, it is also delivering life-changing results for patients at UTSW right now. In just a few years, UT\u00a0Southwestern has become a high-volume MEG center, providing presurgical brain models achieving accuracy rates over 90% and finding real-world solutions for people with intractable epilepsy. \u00a0<\/p>\n Aarush Gotur with his mother, Hitha Gotur<\/p>\n Aarush Gotur, the 17-year-old who just a few years ago was experiencing up to 25 seizures a day, described himself as a \u201cprofessional\u201d patient. Diagnosed with epilepsy at age 7, he spent nearly half his life struggling with \u201cbrain freezes\u201d that would render him unresponsive but still aware of his surroundings. He had endured countless doctor appointments and an alphabet soup of neuroimaging procedures: EEG, fMRI, and SPECT. Even with several anti-seizure medications, his symptoms persisted and worsened as he grew older.<\/p>\n The Goturs eventually sought help from Rana Said, M.D.<\/a>, Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology and Director of Pediatric Neurology Education at UT\u00a0Southwestern, whose combined network at UTSW and Children\u2019s Health could offer more support than any private practice.<\/p>\n Dr. Said suggested a MEG scan, which marked \u201cthe turning point in the whole treatment plan,\u201d said Hitha Gotur, Aarush\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n \u201cAarush had seizures that were clearly focal onset, and they came with a stereotypical aura. Despite this, he had MRIs at high resolutions that did not show a lesion,\u201d Dr. Said explained. \u201cThis is what prompted my recommendation to obtain a MEG scan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe decided to do it because it was noninvasive, and we were hopeful it would tell us something about the root cause of his condition,\u201d Mrs. Gotur said. \u201cWe tried so many other scans and we just wanted something to give us real results.\u201d<\/p>\n On that front, the MEG delivered. In spring 2023, Aarush checked in at UTSW\u2019s Department of Radiology and was led down a winding hall where the MEG machine is set up in a\u00a0small room constructed with walls made of a specially manufactured metal alloy. Staff ensured the necessary sensors were in place before closing the door to block out noise and prevent signal interference.<\/p>\n Rana Said, M.D., is Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology and Director of Pediatric Neurology Education at UT\u00a0Southwestern.<\/p>\n![\"Joseph](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/maldjian-joseph.jpg\")
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\nNader Pouratian, M.D., Ph.D.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"Aarush](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/aarush-his-mother.jpg\")
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