The University of Jyväskylä has a solid reputation in, among other fields, education and physical education research. Founded at the University in 2011, the Jyväskylä Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research (CIBR) combines different scientific disciplines under a neuroscientific research umbrella.
When CIBR’s Director and University Researcher Tiina Parviainen arrived in Jyväskylä in late 2011, one of her first tasks was to integrate MEG research with the university’s other research disciplines, as well as map the possibilities to initiate globally unique approaches to brain research.
According to Parviainen, Jyväskylä’s strengths in neuroscience research include the study of learning, dyslexia and developmental changes from birth onwards. A growing area of special expertise is the coupling of sport sciences with brain research. The MEG laboratory is used intensively to study, for example, brain basis of movement control in different subject groups. A newer area is the integration of neuroscience methods with the study of physical activity. The connection between physical activity and the brain is typically studied by examining how the amount of physical activity or exercise influences brain structure or functions, but much more rare is to do measurements during periods of natural physical exercise.
Parviainen also points out that in recent years, claims such as “exercise is medicine” or “physical activity has positive effects on brain health” have become increasingly prevalent in media. The need to research these types of links is extremely timely.
“In Jyväskylä we want to understand the underlying factors behind these kinds of associations. To do this, we have to show also what happens in the brain immediately during physical performance.” During periods of physical exercise, movement is the greatest challenge to the monitoring of brain functions. Typically, in brain activity measurements, a patient or test subject must remain as still as possible within an MRI tube or under a MEG helmet.
At the moment, we are conducting measurements where test subjects jump directly from a treadmill under a MEG helmet, and next we will try the success of MEG measurements while pedaling.
The coincidental prototyping of an exercise bike
In May 2018, Parviainen happened to be chatting with the director of HUS Biomag Laboratory, Jyrki Mäkelä, at a coffee break during an event. During the conversation, it came up that an old wooden exercise bike that had been used in measurements related to heart and vascular diseases was sitting in the Biomag storeroom. “Mäkelä explained that the bike was no longer being used and said that we could try it out. Later we went and pedaled on the bike.”
In early 2019, during an event organized by Neurocenter Finland at Biomedicum in Meilahti hospital area, Parviainen and her colleagues pondered how the bike could be transported to Jyväskylä. “One of our students who happened to overhear our conversation said that he would be driving to Jyväskylä. Within a couple of hours, we backed his car up to the Biomag door and loaded the exercise bike into the trunk of the car.”
Subsequently, the exercise bike has been tested at the University of Jyväskylä’s MEG laboratory located on the Mattilanniemi campus. Parviainen explains that it has been necessary to alter the exercise bike to facilitate its connectivity with the MEG measuring equipment. CIBR’s Laboratory Engineer Viki-Veikko Elomaa refit the bike and is testing its possibilities. “At the moment, we are conducting measurements where test subjects jump directly from a treadmill under a MEG helmet, and next we will try the success of MEG measurements while pedaling.”
There are several brain research projects currently underway in Jyväskylä, funded by organizations such as the Academy of Finland, that focus on physical performance and fitness. In the already completed ERDF-funded Brain Knowledge Refinery project, CIBR also carried out pilot research projects with companies whose purpose was to discover the kinds of phenomena in neuroscience that could be utilized in the development of new products and services. “Researchers may sometimes think that cooperation with businesses is a bad mix that stifles research, but the commercial element can also promote research and actually facilitate effective use and sharing of information.”
Read more about CIBR at https://cibr.jyu.fi/fi