Fa-Hsuan Lin

Dr. Lin’s research aims to establish an integrated non-invasive multimodal neuroimaging and neuromodulation platform to advance our understanding of brain function and dysfunction and improve the healthcare of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Specifically, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) are used to observe hemodynamic and neuronal responses with a high spatial and temporal resolution, respectively. Complex naturalistic audiovisual stimuli and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are delivered through sensory and physical channels to modulate brain activity. Together, the seamlessly integrated neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques will guide the trajectory of brain dynamics toward better mental health.

In the development of neuroimaging technology, Dr. Lin has been developing MRI receiver coil arrays to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and spatiotemporal resolution of MRI. Dr. Lin also pioneered dynamic, fast fMRI of the human brain with whole-brain coverage and 5-mm spatial resolution at the cortex with a 10 Hz sampling rate, enabling the monitoring and suppressing respiratory and cardiac fluctuations and revealing the fine-graded neuronal timing information (tens to hundreds of milliseconds) contained in hemodynamic responses. Integrated fast fMRI with EEG can improve the quality of EEG recorded inside MRI. This combination enables the neurovascular coupling under complex naturalistic stimuli with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution. Dr. Lin is an EEG and magnetoencephalography (MEG) data analysis expert. Integrating anatomical and functional MRI, Dr. Lin developed EEG/MEG source modeling approaches to allow whole-brain visualization and representation of neuronal activity. Dr. Lin also developed methods of analyzing stereo-EEG (SEEG), an invasive recording of multiple electrodes implanted in medically refractory patients. These data allow for unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution of neuronal activities. More recently, Dr. Lin has been working on integrating neuroimaging (MRI/EEG/MEG) data and navigation systems to enable spatiotemporally accurate neuromodulation using TMS.

Dr. Lin’s neuroimaging and neuromodulation development has been translated into clinical applications. Concurrent EEG-MRI measurement has been used to delineate epileptogenic regions for medically refractory patients. EEG/MEG/SEEG source modelling suggested epileptic spike locations, minimizing the risk for a secondary surgical exploration. Dr. Lin uses complex naturalistic (audiovisual) stimuli to detect and characterize brain areas with impaired high-order cognitive functions, such as the sense of humour and social perception. Dr. Lin’s lab is testing this neuroimaging paradigm to facilitate diagnosis and assessment of treatments for the mental health care of schizophrenia, depression, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar individuals. In neurodegenerative diseases, Dr. Lin aims to improve memory function by individualized TMS of hippocampal-cortical networks using EEG and MRI with high spatiotemporally precision.

Education

• BS, 1994, Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
• MS, 1996, Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
• PhD, 2004, Medical and Electrical Engineering, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, USA

Appointments & Affiliations

• Senior Scientist, Physical Sciences, Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute,
• Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto,
• Professor, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto,