Welcome to the July 2021 issue of the SfNIRS newsletter, covering the period from April 2021 through June 2021. The process of compiling nominations for this year’s board election is now finished, and we are looking forward to the elections themselves. Preparations for the 2021 SfNIRS virtual meeting have picked up speed. The educational committee has done a great job: we have a dozen sessions altogether! Our last call saw Rens Burghardt join the SfNIRS Communications Committee. On top of all that, SfNIRS research webinars have continued providing us with overviews of some of the latest research from our early career members. As some labs are slowly –but surely!–returning to campus, research activity is picking up pace. A slew of new research findings were highlighted by the many news items in which fNIRS was featured.
fNIRS 2021 Virtual Meeting
The first large virtual gathering of our society is coming. Enjoy the welcome video of our keynote speaker Prof. Aslin and check our lists of main topics, speakers and sponsors. The deadline for abstract submission is around the corner; July 23, 2021. There will be awards for Early Investigator and Research Excellence.
Conference dates are October 18-22, 2021. Book the dates.
By Rebecca Re.
SfNIRS 2021 board elections
The nominations process is now finished. There is now a list of candidates for the positions of president-elect, treasurer-elect, and board members from all over the world. Thanks to everyone who participated in the nominations process. Continue reading.
By Elections Committee.
1st LatAmNIRS 2021 Virtual Meeting
And keep an eye for the first society endorsed virtual meeting in Portuguese and Spanish with speakers from Iberoamerican countries. The meeting will be held on December 10, 2010. ¡Nos vemos pronto!
By Felipe Orihuela-Espina, Rickson Mesquita, Samuel A. Montero-Hernández and Javier Andreu-Pérez.
New educational tutorials during the spring period
The education committee has lined up a long series of educational tutorials during this Spring period totalling now a dozen sessions altogether. Further, the videos of the tutorials have been released on our YouTube channel for anyone to review at their convenience. Thanks for attending them and keep registering for the upcoming ones.
By Judit Gervain.
The next SfNIRS research webinars are confirmed
SAVE THE DATES!
- July 30 – Hammad N. Gilani, Enhancing classification accuracy of fNIRS-BCI systems
- August 27 – Lin Wang, Title to be announced (but it will be something on DCS!)
If you missed one of our previous webinars, they are all available on our webpage (but please, log in before clicking on Membership -> Webinars)
PRESENT YOUR WORK TO THE SOCIETY!
If you are an early career scientist excited about your work, let us know! We want to share your excitement at the SfNIRS research webinar! Email Rickson Mesquita to schedule a talk and present your latest result to the community! (Women and underrepresented groups are eagerly welcome.)
By Rickson Mesquita.
Best practices for fNIRS publications
The Society for Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy has organized a representative (but not exhaustive) group of leaders in the field to build a consensus on the best practices for describing the methods utilized in fNIRS studies.
By Meryem Yücel.
Blogpost series about fNIRS toolboxes
Artinis has recently worked on a blogpost series about fNIRS toolboxes and how to use them. They did so, in particular, to inform fNIRS users on the toolboxes out there and have an easy comparison and short tutorial on how to use them in a manner that allows them to compare and select the toolbox based on their individual expertise.
fNIRS analysis toolbox blogpost series
By Jörn M. Horschig.
fNIRS in the News
- Brain activity of soccer players while taking a penalty kick was monitored with portable fNIRS. Interestingly, successful scoring was associated to pure motor control and lack of overthinking (cbc, bigThink, Cosmos, Technology Networks, NewsWise, GenEnNews).
- fNIRS was used to evaluate positive effects of cocoa flavanols on brain vascular response and cognitive performance
- The “TinyBrains” health consortium, aiming to develop a wearable device with NIR lasers and LEDs and EEG electrodes, has been presented in Photonics Media and Novus Light Technologies Today
- Broadband near-infrared spectroscopy was used to evaluate that brain allocates less energy to brain areas responding to information outside the focus of attention, which might explain inattentional blindness and deafness
By Sabrina Brigadoi.
…and yet more fNIRS in the News
- fNIRS has been deemed as the most viable technology for BCI application on this article on Forbes
- A study using fNIRS in newborns and one-month-old infants demonstrated that functional brain networks develop during the first month of life and that they play a role in accounting for individual differences in self-regulation and control skills in infant
- fNIRS was used in elite human freedivers to test their level of brain oxygenation while diving down to 107 meters
By Sabrina Brigadoi.
Special issues
- Special Issue “Biomedical Sensing Applications of Diffuse Optics”. Sensors. Edited by Rebecca Re and Felipe Orihuela-Espina. Deadline extended 30 September 2021
Jobs postings
We have updated our list of job opportunities for this period. Remember to announce your job advertisements on the SfNIRS Facebook group page or on Twitter using the hashtag #fNIRS or sending us an e-mail. Keep sending us your job offers for posting!!
fNIRS publications
Check Felix’s summary and the usual PubMed reformatted searches. Keep yourself up-to-date on the latest fNIRS publications. Remember to announce your publications on the SfNIRS Facebook group page or Twitter using the hashtag #fNIRS.
By Felix Scholkmann and Felipe Orihuela-Espina.
Disclaimer: While we encourage translation of fNIRS technology to commercial products by our members, neither the Communication Committee nor the Society for fNIRS endorse any for-profit or non-profit entities. We do not receive compensation for reporting news about commercial products.
The Communication Committee © The Society for functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy