Pictures of the past
Noa Ofen's
research into
young brains
is producing
memorable data
HILBERRY
THEATRE
2011-12. SEASON
www.hilberry.com
When Noa Ofen and her family
recently arrived in Michigan
from Massachusetts, traffic
on Woodward was crawling.
Ofen, a cognitive neuroscientist
from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT),
wondered, "Why are all those
people sitting in chairs on
patches of grass along the road,
staring at traffic? What sort of
odd Detroit custom is this?"
October 28 - November 19
Not till later did she discover she'd
been an accidental participant
in this year's Dream Cruise.
By William Shakespeare
Benedick and Beatrice are
engaged in a "merry war"
of mile-a-minute talk about
their scorn for love, marriage
and each other. Claudio and
Hero are rendered practically
speechless by their transcendent
love for one another in a
race to the altar. Don John
nearly triumphs in ruining
the wedding, but not before
Beatrice and Benedick finally tell
each other how they really feel.
December 2 - February 4
By Martin McDonagh
This heartbreakingly hilarious
comedy is an irresistible tale
filled with charming characters
and plot twists. On a remote
island off the Irish Coast,
word arrives that Hollywood is
coming to film. No one is more
excited than "cripple" Billy,
an unloved boy whose chief
occupation has been gazing
at cows and yearning for his
inspiration — a girl who wants
no part of him.
•
The mystery of local customs
aside, Ofen is adapting well to
life at Wayne State University,
where she is jointly appointed
to the Institute of Gerontology
(I0G) and the pediatrics
department in the School of
Medicine. Ofen's lab at WSU is
part of the Lifespan Cognitive
Neuroscience program, jointly
run by 10G and the Merrill
Palmer Skillman Institute. Its
work focuses on typical and
atypical brain development in
5- to 30-year-olds.
Born in Haifa, Israel Ofen
earned her bachelor's and
doctorate in Israel at the
Weizmann Institute of
Science before completing
a postdoctoral fellowship at
Stanford. She spent the past
five years as a postdoctoral
associate at the Gabrieli
Laboratory of Cognitive and
Affective Neuroscience at MIT.
As a grad student, Ofen taught
brain development to both
ends of the lifespan — children
and retirees. Her husband,
Julian Wong, is an artist
and freelance designer who
has created children's book
illustrations as well as designs
for MIT's McGovern Institute
for Brain Research. He is also a
third-degree black belt aikido
instructor. "Even his aikido
style is more art than martial
art," says Ofen, who is a brown
belt herself. "It's all about
movement and flow."
minutes. Sedation isn't an
option because Ofen studies
the way brains function and
participants must be fully
awake. Enter the "mock MRI"
as a way to familiarize children
with the process.
At MIT, Ofen used functional
magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) to study memory in
about 300 people ages 5
to 24. Her research added
John Hannigan, associate
significantly to the
understanding of
normal memory
development. She
found that young
adults create more
vivid memories
than children,
and showed that
this is linked
to the relative
maturity of the
prefrontal cortex
— a late-maturing
region in the
brain responsible
for, among
other things,
the richness of
Noa Ofen.: "MIT's focus is basic research,
memories.
and I am now thinking more about clinical
In other words,
the older the person, the more
often their answers contained a
wealth of detail. While a 5-year-
old will remember a picture
of a white house, a 24-year-
old will remember that the
house was a two-story colonial
with blue shutters and an
Adirondack chair on the lawn.
"MIT was a fantastic
experience," Ofen says. "But
MIT's focus is basic research,
and I am now thinking more
about clinical applications.
Wayne State has a strong
medical school and a strong
collaborative environment.
Here I can research the clinical
implications of what we've
learned."
Until recently, brain scans
of children were difficult to
conduct, so research tended
to concentrate on older
adults. "Studying children's
cognition with fMRI is a recent
development and not much was
known about the brain basis of
memory in children," she says.
For an MRI scan to be
successful, a child has to stay
in the scanner with minimal
movement for about 45
applications."
director of WSU's Merrill Palmer
Skillman Institute for Child
and Family Development, is
overseeing setup of a simulated
MRI with the look and sounds
of the real machine. A gradual
introduction to the MRI prepares
children for the procedure
and helps them be more
comfortable during the scan.
Ofen sees participation in
fMRI research as a wonderful
experience for children, one
that often ignites a deeper
interest in science. Her young
participants have produced
science projects, show-and-tell
presentations and science fair
entries on the brain after being
in her study.
"I scanned more than 300
children at MIT and Stanford,"
she says. "As they came out
of the scanner we gave them
a 'tour of their brain' and a
print-out of their brain. We
make sure they have a positive
experience and try to involve
the whole family in the process.
Typically the children are very
excited, raving to their friends,
and are our best recruiters for
the next study."