SFU’s ImageTech Lab gains new tech ally in advancing brain research

New technology acquired by SFU's ImageTech Lab -a core facility based at Surrey Memorial Hospital-is promising to help advance brain research and improve our knowledge of brain disease and injury. The newly installed TRIUX(TM) neo , from Finland-based neuroscience technology company MEGIN, is providing researchers with access to the latest magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology, furthering their ability to carry out adult and pediatric scans with advanced capabilities. The new MEG is also being used with the lab's high field 3T whole body MRI, which together provide easy access to multi-modal imaging. The lab, the first-of-its-kind in western Canada to house both technologies, is enabling the region's top health innovators to bring rapid advancements in brain disease/disorder and injury treatment. Already benefiting from the new MEG are researchers from SFU's Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (INN) , who are using the latest MEG technology to build brain simulations to identify what makes the brain resilient to diseases as we age. INN director Randy McIntosh , a renowned neuroscientist and BC Leadership Chair in Neuroscience and Technology Across the Lifespan, says the new technology will be used alongside the MRI to draw baseline data that measure brain function and structure to better understand genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors that impact the onset, progression and symptoms of dementia. "These data serve as the foundation for personalized brain simulations, constructed with The Virtual Brain," says McIntosh.