Matti Järvelä

Matti Järvelä, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist and psychiatry resident at the University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital. His research focuses on brain imaging, the glymphatic system, and brain pulsations in both health and disease. He studies the physiology of the glymphatic system and cerebral pulsations during healthy sleep, narcolepsy, and psychiatric disorders, and is also involved in research on epilepsy, primary brain lymphoma, autism spectrum conditions, and Alzheimer’s disease.

The overarching aim of his work is to advance understanding of brain function and physiology in healthy states and to clarify how neurological and psychiatric disorders alter these processes. His research employs a multimodal approach that combines fast functional brain imaging with complementary physiological measurements, including electroencephalography (EEG), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and peripheral metrics such as heart rate and respiratory rate.