Florey researchers are at the forefront of rapidly advancing interdisciplinary fields in a combined hospital and research setting. They develop and apply imaging techniques and approaches that are essential to advancing our understanding of the structure and function of the human nervous system and that of related animal models.
Key Instrumentation
3 Tesla Siemens TIM Trio MRI scanner
3 Tesla Siemens Skyra MRI scanner
4.7 Tesla Bruker small animal MRI scanner
Links to Austin Bioresources animal PET-CT
and SPECT-CT scanners
7 Tesla siemens MRI scanner (with UoM)
Research Facilities
Clinical Neuroscience
Epilepsy
Stroke
Brain injury
Neurophysiology (TMS and EEG-fMRI)
MRI Technique development
Diffusion-weighted MRI
Diffusion fibre tracking
Super-resolution Track Density Imaging
Perfusion MRI
fMRI functional connectivity
Simultaneous EEG and fMRI
Projects from Austin are in the spotlight this month:
Dr Genevieve Rayner is researching how diseased brain networks contribute to mood and memory problems in people with epilepsy.
Genevieve, briefly tell us about your research.
I am a clinical neuropsychologist, so am interested in the relationships between brain and behaviour. I am linking traditional pen-and-paper neuropsychological techniques to fMRI data to try and map how diseased brain networks contribute to mood and memory problems in people with epilepsy. In particular, we are using a fMRI task that I designed during my PhD candidature that asks people to try and recall memories from across their life (autobiographic memories), so that we might activate the so-called 'autobiographical memory network', which we know functions abnormally in people with mood and memory problems as well as people with epilepsy. This task is also being used by my colleagues in populations with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and Psychogenic Non Epileptic Seizures.
Who are your research colleagues?
I am lucky enough to work in a very diverse research group at The Florey. In particular, my colleagues include neurologists, physicists, mathematicians, clinical neuropsychologists, radiologists, and various experts in neuroimaging technologies, as well as group of highly trained research assistants who keep the programme ticking along. This means that when a problem arises in my work, I have a highly expert group of people to seek advice from, who can offer a diverse range of insights that I might not have thought of.
What imaging equipment are you using?
I use the Siemens 3T MAGNETOM Skyra here at the Melbourne Brain Centre at the Austin.
How did you find accessing and using the equipment?
Accessing booking times has been relatively easy with the ARIN booking system, and once we arrive with a participant we are in the capable hands of our radiographers. The Skyra has given us beautiful images in both structural and functional modalities.
Did you work across sites? If so, how did you find accessing the equipment across sites?
No sorry!
Thanks for inviting me to contribute.
Thanks Genevieve!
If you or a PhD student you know has been using equipment provided by VBIC, contact us. We'd love to hear about your experience!
Mangor, briefly tell us about your research.
My current research is focused on understanding the function of large-scale brain networks, or connectomics, in health and disease. At the moment, I am very interested in generating and validating complex network models as markers of brain dysfunction in people with epilepsy, particularly focal epilepsy.
Who are your research colleagues?
My research colleagues mainly consist of our large research group located at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Austin Campus, Melbourne. However, we also have national and international collaborators with expertise in brain imaging and brain network modelling. Working in specialised and dynamic teams has enhanced our understanding of (normal and abnormal) brain function. This is also an important step towards the future of medical sciences including 'big data’ analysis with an emphasis on reproducibility.
What imaging equipment are you using?
I predominantly use functional MRI (fMRI) in my research. More specifically, I use task-free fMRI data. During a task-free fMRI scan, the person inside the scanner is instructed to lie still and and not perform a specific cognitive task. This is currently the most commonly used fMRI method to model brain network function in humans. Other imaging equipment we use is electroencephalogram (EEG). We are in fact combining information from EEG and fMRI in people with refractory epilepsy to elucidate changes in functional brain activity (fMRI) that occur at the same time as epileptic activity is seen on EEG recordings.
How did you find accessing and using the equipment?
The MRI systems we have at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health are easy to access and use. Our team ensure that our data is optimised for research purposes. This includes several steps of data handling from acquiring the MRI data to pre-processing and analysing the brain imaging results.
Did you work across sites? If so, how did you find accessing the equipment across sites?
I am predominantly based at the Austin Campus, Heidelberg, Melbourne, so I hardly access my work across sites.
Thank you very much for your time, Mangor.
My pleasure. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share my research.
If you or a PhD student you know has been using equipment provided by VBIC, contact us. We'd love to hear about your experience!
Chris, briefly tell us about your research.
I am a clinical neuropsychologist with a background in electrophysiology. My research is focussed principally on how cognitive functions are organised and supported in the brain, and how cognition comes to be disrupted in conditions such as epilepsy. We use neuropsychological testing of cognitive and emotional functioning in conjunction with MRI measure of brain structure and function to address these questions.
Who are your research colleagues?
The colleagues with whom I work most closely here at the Florey are Dr Genevieve Rayner, a post doc in the Cognition lab, and Mariana Antoniou, a research assistant in the Cognition lab. Both are fellow neuropsycholgists. We all work as part of the larger Epilepsy group under Prof Graeme Jackson. This broader group includes a number of post docs, research assistants, and PhD students, all tackling questions of brain structure and function using advanced MR techniques.
What imaging equipment are you using?
We primarily use the Siemens Skyra scanner, and also the Siemens Trio. In collaboration with Steve Fleming and David Vaughan we also recently developed an MR compatible olfactometer, for the controlled delivery of odours during scanning.
How did you find accessing and using the equipment?
We have recently started using a multiband sequence, enabling us to collect functional images at subsecond temporal resolution with 2mm isotropic whole brain coverage. The initial results collected using this sequence are very impressive, and should prove to be an important step forward for the group.
Did you work across sites? If so, how did you find accessing the equipment across sites?
No, I have not worked across the other sites.
Thank you very much for your time, Chris.
Many thanks for your interest.
If you or a PhD student you know has been using equipment provided by VBIC, contact us. We'd love to hear about your experience!
Here at VBIC we are always looking to add new information about how the imaging equipment across Victoria is being used - on its own or in conjunction with other platform technologies.
As an example, check out some of the articles containing data generated from VBIC equipment. If you would like to add yours to our list, send it through (vbic@ravencg.com.au).
VBIC provides resources for use across the imaging community. These resources have been developed based on needs expressed to us by the user community. Current resources cover:
If you have an idea or requirement for a resource, send us a suggestion via email.
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