"During our stay in Budapest, we had the opportunity to learn about a novel brain imaging technique. Functional ultrasound (fUS) can detect very subtle blood flow changes induced by neurovascular coupling. The measurement that we obtain is an indication of the local hematocrit or percentage of red cells in the blood, or what is the same, the local cerebral blood volume (CBV). It has a sensitivity compared to MRI and is compatible with other techniques often used by neurologists and neuroscientists like PET scans, CT imaging or electrophysiology. Our colleague Kanni Das (SmartAge ESR7) is trained in this technique, and she helped us understanding the theoretical background and the practical manipulation of the machine and software. We could practice ourselves how to prepare the mice from the anesthesia step, injections, and the whole-brain measurements. We had time to practice brain dissections, we could observe how a MRI is performed in rats, and our host supervisor, Domokos Mathé organized a visit to the faculty of Psychology to meet Andrei Morales, PhD student in Prof. Dr. Anna Veres-Székely group. We had the opportunity to get to know his research project, which involves an electrodermal activity (EDA) biofeedback device that we could test personally. This is used as a “therapeutical training” with patients to learn to self-regulate stress or anxiety, using a software (Obimon) that provides cues based on the EDA signal that can be modified by the patient during the different tests. During our stay, on the 8th of March we were part of a very nice celebration of the Women´s Day, in which men from the Department sang a beautiful song and prepare a nice gathering with a lot of typical Hungarian sweets and pastries.
One of the weekends we also receive the visit of one of our friends from SmartAge, Silvia, who is also doing her secondment in Viena currently. Moreover, we celebrated our colleague Raphaelle´s birthday and went for a nice dinner and brought a cake to the office.
During our free time, we were very lucky with the weather, and we could visit most of the city, including two free tours for the two different parts of the city, Buda and Pest. We visited very remarkable places like the Central Market Hall, the Fisherman´s Bastion, The Termal Baths, different cathedrals, the amazing bridges, marguerite island. The city has an amazing historical background, and we were very lucky to be there also on the 15th of March, a red day due to their Independence Day from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1848. The city is completely covered in Hungarian flags, and everyone is on the street. We had the opportunity to visit the inside of the Parliament for free, which is usually not possible without paying. Also, we enjoyed having a lot of different typical meals from Hungary, like langos, goulash, chimney, and typical craft beers, among other things. We also did plans independently according to our wishes, like a cruise through the Danube, a day trip to Bratislava, exploring the city flea markets, secondhand shops, ceramic shops, art museums, the citadel, etc.
Thank you so much to Kanni and Domokos for hosting us!!! :)"