News

BBC News - Brain scan study to understand workings of teenage mind

Heather Carlyon — 2013-05-15T07:53:03Z

Featuring MRI imaging at the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre - Researchers in Cambridge have begun a study to understand the teenage brain. Follow the link to the BBC News Website: http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22510866

Compute/Cluster Server Consolidation.

Dave Berry — 2013-02-11T17:15:00Z

Work has completed to consolidate our current compute and cluster servers at the WBIC. By utilising the latest server technology we will be able to reduce our current compute/cluster server count from 76 Servers to just 8, but in turn this will constitute an increase of approx 50% more CPU/Memory processing power available than was previously, together with simplifying the current setup that has historically grown over time at the WBIC.

Compute servers:- The following servers are to be withdrawn from service(cs5,cs6,cs7,psych0,psych1,psych2,psych3,psych4,psych5,psych6,psych7,abi0,abi1,neurol2,neurol3,neurol4), and will be replaced with 4 new servers, cs1,cs2,cs3 and cs4 with each server benefitting from 16 CPU's and 32GB RAM.

Cluster Servers:- All the current cluster servers are to be withdrawn from service (cluster0-x,cluster1-x,cluster2-x,cluster3-x), and will be replaced with 4 new servers, cluster0-0, cluster1-0,cluster2-0 and cluster3-0 with each of these servers benefitting from 32 CPU's and 64GB RAM.

Panorama:The Mind Reader - Unlocking My Voice

Heather Carlyon — 2012-11-12T12:10:40Z

In a world exclusive, Panorama follows a group of severley brain injured patients and reveals the revolutionary efforts made to help them communicate with their families and the outside world.

Never before filmed, this Panorama Special spent more than a year with a group of vegetative patients in Britain and Canada.

They witness the moment when a patient regarded as vegative for more than a decade is able to answer a series of questions whilst inside a brain scanner.

The findings have profound implications for the patients and their families, as well as ethical consequences for scientists and medical staff.

New high resolution NMR instrument installed in the Molecular Imaging Chemistry Laboratory (MICL)!

Heather Carlyon — 2012-11-01T11:18:48Z

The new Bruker instrument is a high performance digital AVANCE-III 300 MHz two channel (broadband H+X) NMR spectrometer. The NMR facility is capable of running all modern NMR experiments and on all standard NMR accessible nuclei including proton, carbon, fluorine, phosphorus, nitrogen, boron, etc. The AVANCE III NANOBAY console has a fully flexible research-level design suitable for use with multiple probeheads and accessories, routine and non standard or custom experiments (contact Dr R Canales erc28@wbic.cam.ac.uk)

Notes: A link to an additional page with further information is under construction.

Upgrade to Simultaneous PET/MR Scanner

Heather Carlyon — 2012-10-15T13:15:00Z

The Isaac Newton Trust and the Clinical School are jointly providing funding of £48,012 to upgrade/refurbishment our novel simultaneous PET/MR scanner. This instrument was a joint development between the Wolfson Brian Imaging Centre and the Cavendish laboratory and was initially funded by the EPSRC. Simultaneous measurement is a new approach to combine functional and morphological imaging in one instrument. The value of PET lies in its high-sensitivity to measuring biomarkers, but it does not provide consistent morphology. MR has lower sensitivity, but produces high soft-tissue contrast and our initial experiments have demonstrated some of the potential of simultaneous measure. The upgrade will provide functional MR (fMRI) and should result in the instrument being available for routine use.

3D Printing Capabilities at WBIC

Dr Adrian Carpenter — 2012-02-23T11:55:00Z

Dr Marius Mada has been successful in his application to the Marmaduke Sheild Fund to purchase an HP 3D Printer. This will be used to rapid prototype custom parts for both MRE (Magnetic Resonance Elastography) and preclinical imaging studies at the Laboratory for Molecular Imaging. For further information if you would like to try out the printer contact Dr Mada by email.

Powerful new means of accessing PET radiotracers for brain imaging

Mark Foster — 2012-02-10T12:22:09Z

A novel methodology for rapid and direct synthesis of PET probes has been developed in partnership with researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health.

The publication is here.

Abnormal Brain Structure Implicated in Stimulant Drug Addiction

Dr Adrian Carpenter — 2012-02-03T10:00:00Z

Lead by Karen Ersche, and recently published in Science, the study combined diffusion and structural imaging to differences in the brains of addicts and their non-addicted brothers and sisters.

The study is attracting media interest as well as comment from leaders in the field.

MHRA-PET Expert Panel

Mark Foster — 2012-01-27T16:28:11Z

MHRA-PET Expert Panel - An expert panel on regulatory affairs to help researchers deal with the UK regulatory framework for medicines, specifically as applied to Positron Emission Tomography (PET) research.

WBIC Website

Mark Foster — 2012-01-13T13:30:00Z

We have recently moved the WBIC website to run on the University's Falcon CMS service. If you find broken links or pages that are missing, please contact webmaster@wbic.cam.ac.uk with any feedback.