UCI FIBRE Brain Research Center Looks to Advance in Neuroscience Breakthrough Research
Orange County, CA - November 8th 2017 - Early last month The University of California, Irvine opened their new research center with the aim of making significant breakthroughs in human neuroscience. Named FIBRE or Facility for Imaging and Brain Research, the center boasts a $3 million Siemens Prisma 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine known for its ability to collect higher-quality images in a shorter amount of time. The scanner is also capable of high spatial and temporal resolution. FIBRE is designed to suit an extensive range of basic and translational research programs across the UC Irvine campus and beyond.
Dr. Craig Stark is the director of FIBRE and professor of the department of neurobiology and behavior at UC Irvine. The facility will be studying a variety of brain-related topics, including cognition, dementia, depression, autism, and schizophrenia.
The core of FIBRE revolves around the Siemens Prisma scanner. This machine is vital in order to look non-invasively into the human brain. “The Prisma scanner is the outcome of a tremendous effort by both Siemens and the National Institutes of Health to develop an MRI machine that is a generation above the current technology,” the FIBRE website noted. “This was done in the service of the Human Connectome Project that has now laid out specifications for 'connectome-ready' scanners that can provide far greater resolution and detail when mapping connectivity within the human brain.”FIBRE, located on the ground floor of UC Irvine’s Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway building, also has a data processing room and a simulated scanner room where MRI contributors can use an imitation MRI-like machine to prepare for the real procedure.
In addition to the newly-opened FIBRE, the Campus Center for Neuroimaging also encompasses the Neuroscience Imaging Center. This center houses a variety of team members including physicians, physicists, biomedical engineers, psychologists and computer programmers who are also working to contribute in the advancement of brain imaging technology.
