Bringing functional magnetic resonance imaging to Vancouver Island

在过去十年左右的时间里，维多利亚大学（University of Victoria）组建了一个世界级的认知脑研究团队，但这些科学家没有机会接触到已经成为研究活跃人脑的必备工具：功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）。这就好比组建一个国际知名的天文学家团队却没有望远镜。我们建议升级附近皇家银禧医院的一台1.5特斯拉核磁共振成像仪，使其能够进行功能性神经成像。在心理学系认知与脑科学项目的领导下，在大学教职员工以及温哥华岛卫生局（VIHA）和不列颠哥伦比亚省癌症机构（BCCA）的医生和技术人员的积极参与下，拟议的设施将建立在维多利亚大学在记忆、学习、心理健康、衰老、成瘾、临床神经心理学、电生理方法和计算建模方面的现有优势之上。这项基础研究将由VIHA和BCCA医生进行以医学为导向的研究。

Over the past decade or so the University of Victoria has assembled a team of world-class cognitive brain researchers, but these scientists do not enjoy access to what has become the sina qua non for studying the active human brain: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This is akin to building an internationally renowned group of astronomers with no telescope. We propose to upgrade a 1.5 Tesla MRI machine housed at the nearby Royal Jubilee Hospital to make it capable of functional neuroimaging. Led by the Department of Psychology's Cognition and Brain Science program, and with the active involvement of faculty from across the University, as well as doctors and technicians from the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) and the BC Cancer Agency (BCCA), the proposed facility will build on UVic's existing strengths in memory, learning, mental health, aging, addiction, clinical neuropsychology, electrophysiological methods, and computational modelling. This basic research will be complemented by medically oriented research by VIHA and BCCA doctors.