Stepping Out of the Scanner: Jorge Heads to the NeurotechEU Hackathon in Nijmegen

MRI is a remarkable tool for studying the human brain, but it comes with one limitation: real life rarely happens while lying motionless inside a scanner. This November, our PhD candidate Jorge Valdez will explore wearable approaches to neuroimaging at the NeurotechEU Hackathon “Wearable Neurotechnology: fNIRS and EEG” at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His participation is supported by an Erasmus+ mobility grant.

At the Translational Neuroimaging Lab, Jorge’s research focuses on functional MRI in epilepsy, investigating functional connectivity, brain network organization, and individual connectome fingerprinting. His interest in wearable neurotechnology stems from the possibility of studying brain activity beyond conventional laboratory settings, whether during everyday activities, social interactions, or more naturalistic experiences.

The hackathon will bring together participants to gain hands-on experience with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG), covering experimental design, signal acquisition, processing, and multimodal integration. For Jorge, this is an opportunity to broaden his methodological background and explore how these complementary techniques might contribute to research on epilepsy, consciousness, and dynamic brain states.

We look forward to hearing about his experiences in Nijmegen!