IMAGING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Multimodal Brain Imaging Facility
The neuroimaging equipment consists of two state-of-the-art Discover MR750 3 Tesla MRI whole-body scanner (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee WI, USA) each equipped with the latest MR-compatible 128-channel EEG systems (Brain Products, GmbH, Germany). Each MRI scanner features newly designed gradient and radio frequency (RF) transmit subsystems as well as a scalable 32-channel digital MRI receiver with optical
technology, and advance image reconstruction engine capable of conducting parallel fMRI with advanced techniques such as sensitivity encoding (SENSE), and multi-band acceleration.
To conduct MRI/FMRI, diffusion imaging (DWI/DTI), perfusion imaging (ASL/pcASL), and EEG, a wide selection of RF multi-channel, receive-only surface coil arrays for imaging human brains and spinal cords is available. This includes system-standard 8- and 32-channel receive-only brain coils, custom-built EEG-optimized 16- and 32- channel receive-only brain arrays (MRI Instruments Inc, Minneapolis, MN, USA), SENSE-optimized 16- and 32-channel receive-only brain arrays, and a 16-channel receive-only C-spine array (Nova Medical Inc., Wilmington, MA, USA). The custom multi-element brain arrays are highly sensitive MRI signal detectors offering vastly improved sensitivity for detection of functional-activation-induced signal changes at high spatial and temporal resolutions and anatomical MRI at very high spatial resolution, as well as a convenient and safe way to record high-quality EEG data during MRI. Two EEG systems were successfully installed on each MRI scanner, and several in-house hardware and software MRI scanner modifications were implemented to ensure high-quality EEG data recordings during fMRI scans. This includes hardware phase-locked synchronization between MRI scanner master clock, EEG amplifiers, and data acquisition system, echo planar imaging (EPI) MRI pulse sequence modifications to ensure imaging gradient consistency from image to image, and fixed sequence timing. These changes were necessary to achieve high-quality signals with gradient artifact suppression from EEG data.
Additionally, each MRI scanner is equipped with: a custom real-time MRI system allowing for the management of all neuroimaging data, real-time fMRI (rtfMRI), and neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) experiments, real-time integration of physiological data (respiration, pulse oximetry or ECG waveforms) and EEG data simultaneously acquired with fMRI. Both scanners are also synchronized and integrated to conduct multimodal simultaneous EEG and fMRI hyperscanning experiments where two or more subjects’ EEG and/or fMRI responses and their interactions can be measured simultaneously. This advanced combination and customization of state-of-the-art MRI, RF coils, and EEG technologies along with custom-developed software solutions offer unique potential for conducting an advance MRI/fMRI/DTI/ASL and EEG research.
The facility has all synchronization equipment, infrastructure and software (E-prime, PsychoPy, Presentation) necessary for providing advanced fMRI stimulus delivery (synchronized with MRI hardware) and for conducting real-time physiological monitoring during fMRI. This includes custom-developed front and back projection system allowing for visual stimulus delivery (including 47-inch MR-compatible 3D LCD monitors, Resonance Technology, Inc.), MR-compatible in-bore video cameras (MRC Systems GmbH), an eye tracking system (Avotech, Inc.), auditory stimulus delivery (Resonance Technology, Inc.), MR-compatible noise-canceling microphones and headphones (Optoacoustic Ltd.), and a wide range of MR-compatible devices to measure subject responses. Two 16-channel BIOPAC systems allow for measuring skin conductance, ECG, EMG responses, exhale CO2 concentration, and temperature during fMRI. Finally, a full-scale MRI simulator (mock scanner) with fMRI stimulus delivery equipment, dedicated subject’s physiological data collection equipment, and subject’s task response collection capability, is available for subject preparation and training prior to MRI studies.
technology, and advance image reconstruction engine capable of conducting parallel fMRI with advanced techniques such as sensitivity encoding (SENSE), and multi-band acceleration.
To conduct MRI/FMRI, diffusion imaging (DWI/DTI), perfusion imaging (ASL/pcASL), and EEG, a wide selection of RF multi-channel, receive-only surface coil arrays for imaging human brains and spinal cords is available. This includes system-standard 8- and 32-channel receive-only brain coils, custom-built EEG-optimized 16- and 32- channel receive-only brain arrays (MRI Instruments Inc, Minneapolis, MN, USA), SENSE-optimized 16- and 32-channel receive-only brain arrays, and a 16-channel receive-only C-spine array (Nova Medical Inc., Wilmington, MA, USA). The custom multi-element brain arrays are highly sensitive MRI signal detectors offering vastly improved sensitivity for detection of functional-activation-induced signal changes at high spatial and temporal resolutions and anatomical MRI at very high spatial resolution, as well as a convenient and safe way to record high-quality EEG data during MRI. Two EEG systems were successfully installed on each MRI scanner, and several in-house hardware and software MRI scanner modifications were implemented to ensure high-quality EEG data recordings during fMRI scans. This includes hardware phase-locked synchronization between MRI scanner master clock, EEG amplifiers, and data acquisition system, echo planar imaging (EPI) MRI pulse sequence modifications to ensure imaging gradient consistency from image to image, and fixed sequence timing. These changes were necessary to achieve high-quality signals with gradient artifact suppression from EEG data.
Additionally, each MRI scanner is equipped with: a custom real-time MRI system allowing for the management of all neuroimaging data, real-time fMRI (rtfMRI), and neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) experiments, real-time integration of physiological data (respiration, pulse oximetry or ECG waveforms) and EEG data simultaneously acquired with fMRI. Both scanners are also synchronized and integrated to conduct multimodal simultaneous EEG and fMRI hyperscanning experiments where two or more subjects’ EEG and/or fMRI responses and their interactions can be measured simultaneously. This advanced combination and customization of state-of-the-art MRI, RF coils, and EEG technologies along with custom-developed software solutions offer unique potential for conducting an advance MRI/fMRI/DTI/ASL and EEG research.
The facility has all synchronization equipment, infrastructure and software (E-prime, PsychoPy, Presentation) necessary for providing advanced fMRI stimulus delivery (synchronized with MRI hardware) and for conducting real-time physiological monitoring during fMRI. This includes custom-developed front and back projection system allowing for visual stimulus delivery (including 47-inch MR-compatible 3D LCD monitors, Resonance Technology, Inc.), MR-compatible in-bore video cameras (MRC Systems GmbH), an eye tracking system (Avotech, Inc.), auditory stimulus delivery (Resonance Technology, Inc.), MR-compatible noise-canceling microphones and headphones (Optoacoustic Ltd.), and a wide range of MR-compatible devices to measure subject responses. Two 16-channel BIOPAC systems allow for measuring skin conductance, ECG, EMG responses, exhale CO2 concentration, and temperature during fMRI. Finally, a full-scale MRI simulator (mock scanner) with fMRI stimulus delivery equipment, dedicated subject’s physiological data collection equipment, and subject’s task response collection capability, is available for subject preparation and training prior to MRI studies.
Information Systems and Computing Facility
LIBR has a shared computing infrastructure, providing researchers with a managed network of administrative services, analysis servers, and enterprise storage. The internal network is built upon a Brocade 10 GbE core switch. The core switch provides low-latency high-throughput access to analysis, storage, and administrative servers as well as uplinks to Brocade ICX 1GbE access switches. Workstations are connected via 1 GbE copper to the access switches. Security efforts include the user of a layer-7 next generation PaloAlto firewall, a segmented network consisting of multiple subnets and VLANs, the monitoring of web-application firewalls, and IDS, and log aggregation via Elastic Search, Logstash, and Kibana. Wireless service is provided by 10 802.1x authenticating Aruba access points supporting 802.11a/b/g/n over the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. LIBR maintains redundant Internet links via a symmetric 1Gbps metro-ethernet circuit to OneNet, a division of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, and a symmetric 50Mbps link with Cox Telecommunications. These connections provide Internet access to users and all compute resources consisting of 28 dual socket Intel Xeon servers. These servers are split between administration (e-mail, virus scan, VMware, etc) and analysis.Two devices provide network attached file, object, and block storage. An EMC Isilon cluster provides 100TB of usable space to users for high-throughput low-latency scratch space in our small HPC environment. An Oracle 7320 ZFS storage appliance provides 400TB of near-line storage for home directories, warm research data, and warm analysis results. A Spectra Logic Black Pearl facilitates high performance archival of cold data. Investigators at LIBR are equipped with Intel Xeon-based workstations from Apple and HP, Laptops from Apple, HP, and Lenovo, and access to a small HPC environment, all capable of performing varying degrees of data analysis. Standard software includes statistical packages such as MatLab, R, Python, git, stimulus presentation packages, and neuroimaging data processing software (such as AFNI, and FreeSurfer). Subject management and non-imaging research data is provided by Vanderbilt's REDcap (Research Electronic Data Capture) web application.