{"677688":{"#nid":"677688","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Brain Change: Ming-fai Fong using CAREER Award to enhance lives through community-driven research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Ming-fai-Fong\u0022\u003EMing-fai Fong\u003C\/a\u003E has always been interested in what she thinks of as the existential struggle embedded in her research; this notion of focusing simultaneously on the science and the people it can impact.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt turns out, the struggle is more like a loop, with the research impacting the people, and the people impacting the direction of the research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m interested in how things work, in the science, in exploring and researching. But I always ask myself, \u2018what or who am I doing this for?\u2019 So, I try my best to stay connected with the community, with the people whose health and wellbeing we\u2019re ultimately working to improve,\u201d said Fong, assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFong\u2019s desire to stay connected to communities through her work manifested while she was an undergraduate mechanical engineering student at M.I.T. She wanted to make assistive devices for individuals with disabilities. So, she moved to northwestern Mexico for a fellowship designing wheelchairs for people who had been impacted by drug violence in the region.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat experience indirectly led her to the Coulter Department, where \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/fong-lab.github.io\/\u0022\u003Ethe Fong lab\u003C\/a\u003E studies how activity and experience shape brain circuits, with the goal of developing treatments for neurological disorders. Currently, her team is investigating the central visual pathway and visual impairments.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd when they aren\u2019t working on research, Fong and the students in her lab volunteer with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cviga.org\/\u0022\u003ECenter for the Visually Impaired\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gablindsports.org\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Blind Sports Association\u003C\/a\u003E. And whether they are repairing specialized typewriters called Braillers or working with athletes and coaches at a goalball match, those activities are helping to guide the research. It\u2019s all part of the existential loop.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur latest research proposal really grew out of our interactions with the blind and visually impaired community in Atlanta,\u201d said Fong, who recently won a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and will use the funding to support her lab\u2019s study of plasticity \u2014 the ability to adapt and learn \u2014 in the adult brain.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe were inspired by the residual sensory abilities of many people we\u2019ve interacted with,\u201d Fong added. \u201cFor example, some visually impaired people may develop a heightened sense of hearing. Motivated by a lack of accommodations and infrastructure for this community, we want to study how these enhanced sensory capacities emerge in people with irreversible visual impairment.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPlasticity City\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile Fong is referring to a lack of real-world infrastructure suitable for blind and visually impaired people, the concept is an appropriate metaphor when explaining the brain and plasticity.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThink of the brain as a growing city when we\u2019re young, constantly under construction, new infrastructure rapidly emerging everywhere. This is known as the \u201ccritical period.\u201d When we\u2019re children, that\u2019s a period time when the brain is very adaptable and capable of easily learning new things. As our brains age (or the city grows), development slows down \u2014 because neuroplasticity decreases as we get older.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen you experience vision loss, it\u2019s kind of like what happens when a major road closes and the city has to work quickly to find other routes to keep traffic moving. When vision is lost, the flexible brain reconfigures itself to adapt, finding new ways to process information through other senses, like hearing.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut it\u2019s a matter of timing, a window of opportunity that Fong and her team want to keep open, if possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe want to understand the critical period, and how this reconfiguration process works,\u201d said Fong. \u201cUltimately, we think that by depriving the brain of one sense, like vision, we can reopen the critical period, making the brain more adaptable again, even in adulthood.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo test their ideas, Fong\u2019s team will observe how the brains of mice change when vision is impaired, paying close attention to areas of the brain responsible for hearing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHopefully, we can reveal new ways to help people with sensory impairments by making their brains more adaptable, like they were in childhood,\u201d said Fong, who is quick to point out a common misconception: losing your vision does not automatically improve your audition, or sense of hearing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYes, there are people with vision loss who learn to expertly use echolocation \u2014 making sounds and listening to the echoes \u2014 to navigate their surroundings. But that may be the exception, particularly when thinking of people who lose their vision as adults.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFor every one of those stories, there are 100 others in which someone can\u2019t tell you what direction a sound is coming from,\u201d said Fong.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to studying ways to identify and leverage the critical period of plasticity, Fong will use the CAREER Award to help support her lab\u2019s education initiatives targeting blind and visually impaired youth. With hands-on Brailler repair workshops and multi-sensory teaching tools, the program seeks to create inclusive learning environments for all non-visual learners, while promoting broader diversity in STEM fields.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBeyond the lab and the research, Fong is considering her initial motivation for the work, \u201cthe lack of inclusive infrastructure for individuals with disabilities. One long term goal we have is to provide a neuro-scientific basis for advocating for improved accommodations,\u201d she said. \u201cIf our work can help make it possible for this remarkable community to participate in and contribute to society more broadly, that would be huge.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMing-fai Fong, assistant professor at Georgia Tech and Emory, researches brain plasticity and its role in adapting to vision loss. Her work, informed by community outreach with the visually impaired, aims to develop treatments for neurological disorders and advocate for inclusive infrastructure.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ming-fai Fong, assistant professor at Georgia Tech and Emory, researches brain plasticity and its role in adapting to vision loss."}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2024-10-17 14:22:33","changed_gmt":"2024-10-29 15:40:25","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-10-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-10-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675340":{"id":"675340","type":"image","title":"Ming-fai Fong in lab","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen we lose one sense, like vision, do our other senses get stronger? Ming-fai Fong is using her NSF CAREER Award to find out. \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; Photo by Jerry Grillo\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1729174508","gmt_created":"2024-10-17 14:15:08","changed":"1729174620","gmt_changed":"2024-10-17 14:17:00","alt":"Ming-fai Fong, BME researcher","file":{"fid":"258951","name":"Ming in lab.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/17\/Ming%20in%20lab.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/17\/Ming%20in%20lab.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2617818,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/17\/Ming%20in%20lab.jpg?itok=NIx3zm2O"}}},"media_ids":["675340"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"194034","name":"brain plasticity"},{"id":"173478","name":"neural plasticity"},{"id":"194035","name":"visual impairment"},{"id":"194036","name":"blindness"},{"id":"1912","name":"brain"},{"id":"187320","name":"brain activity"},{"id":"11322","name":"brain adaptation"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}