The Department hosts a comprehensive brain imaging facility for human research, from fundamental cognitive and metabolic science to translational research in mental health and dementia, and biomarker-based mechanistic trials.

The facility is placed directly between the Neuro-Intensive Care Unit and the Herchel Smith Building Clinical Research Facility, providing ease of access for patient studies, from the most severely ill to healthy out-patient cohorts. The ease of access to acute patient populations allows uniquely challenging research imaging to be performed. 

Facilities include both 3T Siemens PRISMA and Skyra MRI, 3T GE PET-MRI, MRI hyperpolariser, 7T Terra MRI for ultrahigh field MRI and an array of MR-compatible ancillary hardware. In partnership with the Department of Radiology and the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, PET-CT and Magnetoencephalography are also part of the brain imaging portfolio.

The value of brain imaging is magnified by our commitment to advanced informatics, and to the integration of imaging innovations within precision cohorts. Imaging data are curated and analysed within the University’s Research Compute Platforms, incorporating high security for health data with world-leading compute power. These data and platforms support our international leadership in connectomics and lifespan cohorts.

Together, the imaging and analysis of brain structure, function, and pathology provide unparalleled resources for translational medicine.

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Find out more about our work at: https://www.wbic.cam.ac.uk/