Dinners

This page collects the proceedings of the layer-fMRI dinners

Sixth layer-fMRI dinner: layer-fMRI and the academia-industry relationship

On February 8th 2024, we will host the 8th virtual layer-fMRI dinner. As usual, it’s free, just follow the link below. The 6th layer-fMRI dinner will focus the relationship of layer-fMRI academia and industry. Layer-fMRI basic research and industry have different goals, yet they help and facilitate one another. Without each other, each of our…

Second CMRR cdr workshop: Layer-fMRI analysis across pipelines

Second layer-fMRI workshop in CMRR. This year, the workshop focused on multiple analysis pipelines. This post contains video recordings and links to data and analysis scripts.

Fifth layer fMRI dinner: What can we learn about cortical layers using laminar fMRI?

On Dec 7th 2022, we will host the 5th virtual layer-fMRI dinner. The board of the layer-fMRI dinner group has invited the following speakers to initiate discussions on the theme: Layer-fMRI signal origin: From neurons to vessels to BOLD. Moderated by Luca Vizioli and Tyler Morgan  The entire event will last for about 90 min…

Fourth layer fMRI dinner: Neurons → vessels → fMRI

On Oct 6th 2021, we aim to host the 4th virtual layer-fMRI dinner. The board of the layer-fMRI dinner group has invited the following speakers to initiate discussions on the theme: Layer-fMRI signal origin: From neurons to vessels to BOLD. Amir Shmuel (McGill): The complexity of lamina resolved neuronal activity, and the spatial specificity of…

Layer-fMRI Analysis Project

One dataset, many analyses: an overview of the diverse processing approaches in layer-fMRI. The layer-dinner group would like to invite you to show us your analysis pipeline in a brief presentation at an upcoming “Layer-fMRI dinner” in the Spring of 2022. The analysis of layer-fMRI data is challenging and not straightforwardly doable with standardized streamlines…

Third layer-fMRI dinner: Cognitive Models and Cortical Layers.

On April 20th 2021, the third virtual layer-fMRI took place. 120 (unique) attendees joined and discussed the connection between layer-fMRI and cognitive models. This meeting is held as a succession of the first two virtual dinner in May 2020, and Sept 2020: https://layerfmri.com/virtualevent1/ https://layerfmri.com/virtualevent2/ In this third event, it will be discussed how the layer-fMRI…

Second Layer-fMRI dinner: Laminae in the brain; fMRI vs. electrophysiology

On Sept 28th 2020, the second virtual layer-fMRI event is scheduled. This meeting is held as a succession of the first virtual dinner in May 2020: https://layerfmri.com/virtualevent1/ In this second event, it will be discussed how the research field can bridge the gap between layer-dependent activity measures that are obtained with fMRI and electrophysiology, respectively.…

First layer-fMRI Dinner: Layer-fMRI contrasts

On May 7th 2020, there was the first virtual layer-fMRI dinner event to discuss current issues in the field. This meeting was held as a replacement of an originally planned layer-fMRI dinner at ISMRM and happened in succession of an earlier in-person layer-fMRI dinner in November 2019 (meeting minutes here). Below you find the important…

2019 Minnesota workshop on Cortical Depth-Resolved fMRI Methods

This post summarizes the presentation, tutorials, and discussions of the 2019 UHF Minnesota Workshop on Cortical Depth-Resolved fMRI Methods, Nov 12th-Nov 13th. Organiser: Cheryl OlmanPresenters: Alessio Fracasso, Natalia Petridou, Jonathan Polimeni, Kamil Uludag, Tim van Mourik, and Renzo Huber Terminology consensus. Layerification: The process of assigning depth-values to each voxel. Lettuce Head: Levelset with acoustic noise. Partial Volume: Ill-defined term for partial…

2018 layer-fMRI meeting as part of the ISMRM study group ‘current issues in brain function’

Meeting minutes of Study group on brain functions business meeting: 15:30-16:30 in W07, June 21st, 2018, ISMRM, Paris: Chunlei Liu presents the talk: “Ultra-high resolution fMRI – from hardware to pulse sequences to the human brain – and vice-versa. A 7T BRAIN Initiative Project” per pro David Feinberg. In the subsequent Q/A period it is…

2015: The Nijmegen Layers Analysis Meeting

On October 22nd and 23rd 2015, David Norris hosted the first layer-fMRI workshop in Nijmegen. This workshop was focusing on hands-on analysis questions in layer-fMRI. Attendees were asked to share example data across vendors and acquisition methods. The agenda contained open discussions on the following questions: What data quality can we expect? Image registration Defining…

About Layer-fMRI Dinners

Purpose

The layer-fMRI dinner group is a collection of layer-fMRI researchers, trainees, methods developers, neuroscientists, and layer-enthusiasts (aka laminauts), who organise regular dinner meetings.

Our aim is to provide a community-driven platform to discuss current issues, latest developments, and controversies in the field of layer-fMRI.

Contacts:

Email: laminauts@gmail.com

Slack: depthresolvedfmri.slack.com

History of layer-fMRI dinners

The first ever layer-fMRI meeting was a workshop organised by David Norris on October 22nd-23rd 2015 in Nijmegen.

The ISMRM study group Current Issues in Brain Function had dedicated their business meeting at the 2018 meeting in Paris on layer-fMRI. During this meeting, Ravin Menon proposed a community driven platform to deal with layer-fMRI challenges (keyword: repository of layer-fMRI repositories).

In November 2019, Cheryl Olman revived the notion of layer-fMRI workshops and organised a three day layer-fMRI workshop in Minnesota. During this meeting, it was agreed to maintain regular meetings as satellite events of the big international conferences (ISMRM, OHBM, SfN).

Luca Vizioli and Renzo Huber raised the funds to organize the first of these satellite events in form of an invited dinner at the ISMRM 2020 in Sydney. However, due to the outbreak of the COVID-pandemic, this ‘dinner’ was held as a virtual video conference call on May 7th 2020. Since then Andrew Morgan, Johanna Bergmann, Avery Berman, Saskia Bollmann, Denis Chaimow, Bianca van Kemenade, Nils Nothnagel, René Scheeringa have joined the organizational board; and the virtual format has thus become the official format of these meetings, which have been taking place twice a year.

We are also known as laminauts. A term that was established by Jonathan Polimeni, which is a play on toponauts by Eric Schwarz for people working on cortical topography, which in turn is a play on astronauts for people working in space.

Research focus the layer-fMRI dinner group

The primary focus of the layer-fMRI dinner group is the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of functional MRI data of layers and columns that are acquired in the human cerebral cortex. Structural layer-MRI, non-human layer-fMRI, or layers in sub-cortical structures are or tangential interest too.

Governing structure

Everyone is welcome! As usual with community driven efforts, the person that puts the work in is the person that gets to make the decisions. If you have an idea about a layer-fMRI topic to be discussed, feel free to just organise it! If you have a new idea about a different form of layer-fMRI dinners, go ahead and implement it! The layer-fMRI dinner group will try to help.

Get involved by joining the #meeting_planning channel on SLACK.

Based on the insightful suggestion by David Norris, in 2020 we founded a board of the layer-fMRI dinner group. The purpose of the board is to advise on content and structure of layer-fMRI dinners and ensure diversity of speakers.

Contacts:

Email: laminauts@gmail.com

Slack: depthresolvedfmri.slack.com

Layer-fMRI Dinner Group’s Code of Conduct

Introduction

The field of layer-fMRI, and thus the layer-fMRI dinner group suffers from many biases. In this document we would like to discuss some of them as well as propose ways to tackle them.

This code is not exhaustive or complete. We ask the members of the layer-fMRI dinner group to follow it in spirit to create a safe and positive experience for all. Within this Code of Conduct we acknowledge that the layer-fMRI dinner group has serious issues about diversity, biases and communication standards. And we express our desire to work on these issues.

Gender Bias

While we acknowledge gender identification to vary, we focus here on male/female. Layer-fMRI papers are dominated by male authors (see figure). Even if we take into account the relatively higher proportion of male authors, the reference lists of layer-fMRI papers are even more so biased towards males. We find this reference list gender bias unacceptable and our group is committed to reducing it.

Geographic Bias

There is a geographic imbalance of layer-fMRI labs and papers across continents. Europe dominates the field, even though Asia and the Americas have almost twice the number of layer-fMRI scanners. The Layer-fMRI Dinner group would like to encourage more geographic diversity.

Methods Bias

Layer-fMRI is a methods-focused sub-field of fMRI sequence and analysis Layer-fMRI is a sub-field of fMRI where methods (sequence and analysis) are still being actively developed. There are countless anecdotal pieces of evidence of a destructive lack of open-mindedness towards new methods. For example, reviewers may have suggested to some authors for the work to be evaluated by physicists (or implied any particular lack of expertise from the authors), or a particular technique may have been criticised because it is not yet widely accepted. Analysis methods can be easily proven to be right or wrong depending on assumptions, but reviewers may have forgotten to evaluate if a particular approach is adequate to the goals. Finally, when given the opportunity to present the advancement of our field, we may have fallen into the temptation of advertising our own work.

Outdated Conversation Atmosphere

The layer-dinner group would like to provide a forum for an open conversation about relevant issues in the field. However, until now most virtual layer-fMRI dinner events consisted of traditional monologue-style presentations from established researchers. In the future, we would like to improve our event format and our atmosphere. We want to favour dialog over one-sided presentations and we want a discussion format that is more welcoming for the voices of young researchers.

We think such anecdotes and biases need to become a thing of the past. We hope that this code of conduct document can help us work on these biases to become a better and more welcoming community.

Scope of this Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct applies to all events (in-person or online online) managed by the layer-fMRI dinner group (aka laminauts). This includes the regular dinner meeting, discussions on SLACK, and in-person evening social events (actual dinners) during large international conferences (ISMRM, OHBM, etc). We expect our Code of Conduct to be honored by everyone who participates in the layer-dinner group community formally or informally and we wish for all to spread these good practices outside the layer-fMRI dinners and events.

Diversity Statement

The layer-fMRI dinner group is an international and multidisciplinary community focusing on using fMRI at a high spatial resolution (e.g. sub-millimetre) to access fundamental cortical units (layers and columns) that support cognition and behaviour. As a community, the layer-fMRI dinner group values diversity across its members. The layer-fMRI dinner group is therefore committed to creating an equitable environment where human diversity is welcomed and respected. While no list can hope to be comprehensive, we explicitly honor diversity in:

  • ethnicity, gender identity or expression, and sexual orientation.
  • culture, language, national origin, religion, race, and socioeconomic status.
  • discipline (physicists, neuroscientists, engineers, computer scientists, etc.).  
  • age (seniority level of academic hierarchy, PhD students, post-docs, professors, institute leaders).

Finally, as a community we appreciate the use of a diverse set of approaches (e.g.  GE-BOLD, VASO, SE-BOLD) and tools (e.g. Freesurfer, BrainVoyager, AFNI, python, Matlab and R).

Promoting Diversity

In both public and private interactions, the layer-fMRI dinner group expects its members to be respectful of all community voices. Conversations should be direct, constructive, and positive. We expect members to respect and honor all forms of diversity. Community members are also encouraged to seek diverse perspectives. We will work to ensure that the crowd of actively organizing members and the board, and the speakers of the layer-fMRI dinner events reflect the diversity of the field. Specifically, the board will refrain from layer-fMRI dinner events  with all male panelists.

In addition, we suggest the layer fMRI community to adopt best citation practices (see e.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5896885/) and as a way to address the issue to include a citation gender diversity statement in manuscript and talks (see e.g.  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-020-0658-y?proof=t#citeas, https://github.com/dalejn/cleanBib).

Appreciating Differences

Layer-dinner group members come from many cultures and backgrounds. We therefore expect community members to be respectful of different cultural practices, attitudes, and beliefs. This includes being aware of preferred titles and pronouns, as well as using a respectful way of addressing each other.

While we do not expect all members of the layer-fMRI dinner group to know the cultural practices of every discipline, ethnic, and cultural group, we expect members to recognize and appreciate differences within our community. This means being open to learning from and educating others, as well as educating yourself.

Behaviour That Will Not Be Tolerated

We stand against discrimination in all forms and at every organizational level. Discrimination based on, but not limited to geographic location, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, accent, race, ethnicity, age or religion does not abide by our values. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment of conference participants and organizers.

Harassment includes, but is not limited to:

  • Verbal comments that reinforce social structures of dominance related to geographic location, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion.
  • Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.
  • Sexual images in public spaces, including talks.
  • Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
  • Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes and all forms of cyberbullying
  • Sustained disruption of talks or other events
  • Inappropriate physical contact
  • Unwelcome sexual attention
  • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour

Enforcement

The layer-fMRI dinner group expects participants to follow the rules listed above at all event venues and event-related social and online activities. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harassing behavior, event organizers retain the right to take any actions to keep the event a welcoming environment for all participants. At online events there are at least two moderators that can block and expel harassing attendees (i.e. remove participants of Zoom conference). For in-person events, we allocate part of the events funds for security personnel (as offered by the venue sites) that can help to remove harassing attendees from the site. Depending on the severity of the harassment the layer-dinner group event organizers reserve the right to report incidences of sexual misconduct to the venue institution and authorities take any appropriate actions.

Reporting

If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible to the board of the layer-dinner group. E.g. via SLACK as PM. Harassment reduces the value of our community for everyone.  You can make a report either personally or anonymously.

Anonymous report

You can make an anonymous report in SLACK via the anonymous bot. Type “/anonymous” (no extra param) to open the dialog box. Type a message and click “Send”. The bot will send the message without revealing your name. We cannot follow up an anonymous report with you directly, but we will investigate it to the best of our ability and take whatever action is necessary to prevent a recurrence.

Personal report

You can make a personal report by messaging any of the board members that you trust. The contact details of the board members are here: https://laminauts.com/about/ 

When making a personal report, individuals from the board team will endeavor to use a location that is safe and private. We may involve event staff to ensure your report is managed properly. Once safe, we will ask you to tell us about what happened. This can be upsetting, but we will handle it with kindness and respect, and you can bring someone to support you. You will not be asked to confront anyone, and we will not reveal your identity. Your report will be treated confidentially and will be investigated to the best of our ability and we will take whatever action possible to prevent a recurrence.

Our team will be happy to help you contact hotel/venue/zoom security, local law enforcement, local support services, and to otherwise assist you to feel safe for the duration of the event. We value your attendance.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Female Empowerment UM (FEM) of Maastricht University for valued input in the generation of this Code of Conduct. This statement has drawn material from the Organization of Human Brain Mapping, the Ada Initiative Code of Conduct, the Apache Software Foundation Code of Conduct, and the Mozilla Community Participation Guidelines.