Cardiff University - EPSRC Capital Award for Core Equipment

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Cardiff University will use the EPSRC's Capital Award allocation to purchase three packages of multi-user equipment as part of a broader strategy to support the development and maintenance of its world class laboratories. Such laboratory facilities are a key component of the University strategy to support high quality research and ensure the long-term competitiveness of its research community. The three proposal are linked around the theme of advancing methods for neuroscience research, building on key strengths already in place at Cardiff, within the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC). The equipment has been proposed by research teams spanning the University, including physicists, engineers, computer scientists, psychologists, geneticists and psychiatrists. An important outcome of this work will be increased collaboration amongst these teams of people - this is essential for making the next advances in our understanding of the brain, its development from infancy through to old age, and what is happening in both health and disease.The first package of equipment will extend CUBRIC's capabilities so that, using a technique called magnetoencephalography (MEG), we can measure the brain's electrical activity in both adults and young children, potentially while they are moving - this has been impossible up to now. The interdisciplinary team mentioned above will be needed to fully implement this system and optimise its potential.We will also build a suite of equipment that allows more sensitive and controlled investigations of how the brain processes both touch and pain. This is technically challenging because the equipment must work within our brain scanning environments and the multidisciplinary team of scientists we have brought together are necessary to solve these challenges. However, it is important, because many conditions, such as autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), have, at their core, a deficit in sensory processing, including touch. In addition, many people suffer from chronic pain and this equipment will allow a more detailed investigation of how the brain processes touch and pain in this group.Finally, many of our research scientists are developing novel, more complex, analysis tools for neuroscience data analysis. The new algorithms, including machine-learning approaches, can make the best use of the opportunities afforded by CUBRIC's brain imaging facilities and the complex data it generates, but need state-of-the-art computer processing systems. The third package of equipment is such a system, using advanced GPU processors to enable work to be done in hours that we would have to wait weeks for on our current system.