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Casey Gilmore, a psychology graduate student, explains the Magnetoencephalography machine's use at the opening of the Coverdell Research Center Tuesday.

The Bio-Imaging Research Center had its grand opening Tuesday and conducted tours of the building. This cap is one of the brain imaging devices on display.

BIRC enhances medical research

Schizophrenia, muscles researched

By: ALEXIS GARROBO

Posted: 1/24/07

University researchers and graduate students now have the tools available in one facility to gather more information about the brain and what affects it.

The Bio-Imaging Research Center in the Paul D. Coverdell building hosted its grand opening Tuesday.

The research center, which began operating in November, integrates technology only one or two other facilities in the Southeast have under one roof, said Stephen Miller, director of BIRC.

"It will give a more advanced kind of imaging" with exquisite picture and detail that was not previously available to researchers at the University, said Miller.

"It's an incredible gift here at the University," he said.

University President Michael Adams, in his dedication remarks, said, "This is really a part of the plan that I had to make us a fuller player in biomedicine and research, to develop a higher and higher profile."

"I have no doubt that we'll point to BIRC as one of the places for insight to how to improve health in Georgia," he said.

The center only, housing two offices, is designed as an interdisciplinary research center where varied research can be done simultaneously.

Researchers from Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and the School of Veterinary Medicine, among others, are using the south campus facility for research.

The center of the facility is the new Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine, which creates images of tissue, muscles, bones and the processes within the body. The three-tesla magnet used in the MRI is twice as powerful as those normally used in medical facilities and gives a more distinct and detailed image.

Researchers can view magnetic fields that result from visual, audio or other stimuli with the Magnetoencephalography technology.

Electrical activity is measured using a swim cap-like net placed over the head, the Electroencephalography machine, to show where certain processes, such as hallucinations, occur in the brain.

The data from these machines then can be compiled to show where, how and what occurs in the brain and body. The technology offers information in real time, giving researchers information about exactly where and what is happening as a process occurs.

"This facility offers a most comprehensive look at the brain," said David Lee, vice president of research.

Current research at the center includes studies on muscle activity in healthy, young adults, obesity, schizophrenia and a wide variety of health issues.

The research center also is a learning environment for many graduate students.

There are computer labs for students to analyze the data, learn how to use the equipment and it contains a MRI simulator to prepare for the $2.3 million genuine article down the hall.

Graduate student Anne Gao, from Beijing, China said she has enjoyed her work at the center.

"Being involved has helped me understand the 'living brain' better," Gao said.