Susan M. Bowyer, Ph.D., MEG Physicist

Department of Neurology, Henry Ford Hospital
2799 West Grand Blvd, Detroit, MI 48202
Phone: (313) 916-1075
Fax: (313) 916-0526
[email protected]
Website

Dr. Bowyer is a MEG physicist in the Neuromagnetism Lab at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. Her research is performed in the department of Neurology using a technique called Magnetoencephalography (MEG). The MEG lab houses a Super conducting quantum interference (SQUID) neuromagnetometer to detect weak magnetic fields from activated neurons inside a patient ’s brain.  She has used MEG to investigate the underlying mechanism of Migraine auras and to detect areas of epileptic activity in patients’ cortex for neurosurgeons.

Currently Susan’s areas of research include localization of language specific processes involved in reading, cognition, and identifying dyslexia and other learning disorders.  She is expanding the utility of MEG in understanding hyper excitability of migraine patients’ brains during visual stimulation and utilizing new analytical techniques in the analyses and interpretation of MEG results.

The Neuromagnetism Laboratory at Henry Ford Hospital has a 148-channel Clinical whole-head Neuromagnetometer as well as a smaller 7-channel animal research system for recording magnetic brain fields from the brain. We are one of the only 3 centers in the Midwest and one of 20 clinical sites in the USA. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is clinically used for presurgical localization for epilepsy and determining eloquent cortex prior to tumor or AVM removal and for epilepsy presurgical planning. We are also using MEG to research disorders such as dystonia schizophrenia, TBI, and autism to find imaging biomarkers that can predict outcome. We combine MEG and EEG source analysis along with connectivity analysis of the brain networks to understand how these disorders disrupt normal brain function. Our mission is to utilize MEG as a translational technology to bring classical cellular neurophysiology information to clinical applications. To this end researchers and clinicians, work together to promote the use of non-invasive MEG in the exploration of human brain function.Dr Susan Bowyer is the Scientific Director of the MEG lab.  She is a biomedical physicist who received her degree from Oakland University.