Functional MRI Core Facility

空间利用率： 功能性磁共振成像设施（FMRIF）目前占地约4800平方米。3 T、3 TB、3 TC和1.5T MRI扫描仪的扫描仪间、控制室和电子/机器室位于NMR中心内，办公空间位于NMR中心上方的二楼FMRIF/Scrum套房（总面积约为1400平方英尺，包括共享会议空间）。 工作人员： FMRIF员工（目前有15名全职员工）包括：设施主管、4名保持扫描仪运行的科学家、8名MRI技术员、1名信息技术（IT）专家和1名行政实验室经理。 核心用户： 功能性磁共振成像设施支持30多名主要研究人员的研究，总共有300多名研究人员。超过70个研究方案正在使用FMRIF扫描仪。每台扫描仪的预定工作时间为每周105小时。 自2000年至2011年9月，共有723份出版物使用了核心设施。其中NIMH 472人，NINDS 195人，其他机构56人。这些论文被引用了38，461次，综合h指数为102。 成绩： 今年，FMRIF在扫描仪采购方面非常忙碌。我们已经购买了一台Siemens 7 T和一台Siemens Skyra 3 T扫描仪，并希望完成对GE CRADA扫描仪的购买并将其升级为GE 750。7 T将取代3 T-C。Skyra 3 T将在2011年1月取代我们的1.5T，GE升级将在我们购买的CRADA扫描仪上进行。 感谢肖恩·马瑞特和维纳伊·鲁普昌辛格监督这些扫描仪正在进行的建设项目。 在过去的一年里，一位新的科学家Souheil Inati加入了我们的团队。他在MR物理和脉冲编程方面拥有丰富的专业知识，并拥有西门子平台的经验。 在过去的一年里，我们创建了一个透明的“技术扫描”列表，允许适当的合格人员通过执行“技术扫描”来简化其扫描设置和测试过程。“这项特权在准备好之前需要大量的编辑和反馈。 关于核心设施与信息技术有关的成就： 技术人员的集中身份验证 FMRIF的八名MRI技术人员的IT基础设施已经彻底改造，使技术人员更容易在不同的日子支持不同的扫描仪。他们独立的Windows工作站已经被连接到中央Xserver的iMac所取代。每个技术人员都可以登录到任何扫描室的任何iMac并访问他们的桌面。 虚拟化 我们已经开始了一项重大举措，对FMRIF的许多核心计算硬件进行虚拟化。虚拟化有很多好处，包括减少空间和功耗，增加运行时间和可靠性。FMRIF网络服务器已经转换为虚拟机，我们预计身份验证、备份和dicom catcher将在明年转换。 利用率统计 我们已经继续扩大我们的扫描调度数据库的会计功能。现在，这使我们能够生成有关每位调查员如何以及何时使用扫描仪的细粒度报告。例如，今年我们增加了计算调查人员在向社区放弃不必要的扫描时间时提供多少通知的能力。这些报告有助于我们和科学主任分配扫描时间，以最大限度地有效利用FMRIF资源。 最后，在过去的一年中，功能性磁共振成像设施继续夏季fMRI/MRI夏季研讨会系列。 这个非正式的fMRI/MRI暑期课程主要由NIH的研究人员提供。虽然讲座没有拍摄，但演示文稿的数字版本放在一个网站上，可以下载。这门课程受到了美国国立卫生研究院暑期学生和后bac IRTA社区的好评。今年的出席人数大约是去年的两倍。

Space Utilization: The Functional MRI Facility (FMRIF) currently occupies approximately 4800 sq. ft of space, divided between the scanner bays, control rooms and electronics/machine rooms for 3TA, 3TB, 3TC, and 1.5T MRI scanners located within the NMR center and office space on the second floor above the NMR center in the FMRIF/SFIM suite (approximately 1400 sq ft total, including shared conference space). Staff: The FMRIF staff (currently 15 full time employees) consist of: the facility director, four staff scientists to keep the scanners running, eight MRI technologists, an information technology (IT) specialist, and an administrative lab manager. Core users: The functional MRI facility supports the research of over 30 Principal Investigators which translates to over 300 researchers overall. Over 70 research protocols are active and making use of FMRIF scanners. Each scanner has scheduled operating hours of 105 hours per week. Since the year 2000 until Sep 2011, a total of 723 publications have made use of the core facility. The total is divided among 472 for NIMH, 195 from NINDS, and 56 from the other institutes). These papers have been cited 38,461 times for a combined h-index of 102. Accomplishments: This year, the FMRIF has been extremely busy with scanner purchases. We have purchased a Siemens 7T and a Siemens Skyra 3T scanner and are hoping to complete our purchase of the GE CRADA scanner and upgrade it to a GE750. The 7T will replace our 3T-C. The Skyra 3T will replace our 1.5T in January of 2011, and the GE upgrade will be on the purchased CRADA scanner which will be owned by us. Credit goes to Sean Marrett and Vinai Roopchansingh for overseeing the ongoing construction projects for these scanners. In the past year, a new staff scientist, Souheil Inati, has joined our team. He brings with him considerable expertise in MR physics and pulse programming as well as experience with Siemens platforms. In this past year, we have created a transparent "technical scan" list, allowing appropriately qualified individuals to streamline their scanning setup and testing process by being able to perform "technical scans." This privilege required extensive edits and feedback before it was ready. With regard to IT related accomplishments for the core facility: Centralized authentication for technologist The IT infrastructure for the FMRIF's eight MRI technologists has been completely overhauled to make it easier for technologists to support different scanners on different days. Their stand alone Windows workstations have been replaced with iMacs connected to a central Xserver. Each technologist can login to any of the iMacs in any scanner room and access their desktop. Virtualization We have begun a major initiative to virtualize many of the core computing hardware of the FMRIF. Virtualization has many benefits including reduced space and power consumption and increase up time and reliability. The FMRIF webserver has already been converted to a virtual machine and we expect the authentication, backup, and dicom catcher to be be converted in the coming year. Utilization Statistics We have contined to expand the accounting features of our scan scheduling database. This now enables us to produce fine-grained reports on how and when each investigator is using the scanner. For example, this year we have added the ability to compute how much notice investigators provide when giving up unneeded scantime to the community. These reports help both us and the scientific director allocate scantime to maximize the efficient utilization of FMRIF resources. Lastly over the past year, the functional MRI facility has continued the summer fMRI/MRI summer seminar series. This informal fMRI/MRI summer course is presented mostly by researchers at the NIH. While the lectures were not filmed, the digital versions of the presentations are placed on a site that allows downloading. This course has been well-received by the summer student and post bac IRTA community at the NIH. The attendance this year is about double that of last year.