The opportunities a new scanner will bring to CINN is not only the core research agendas, but the chance for collaborations with clinical trials units, Royal Berkshire Hospital and other clinical facilities.
The new scanner has the ability to scan the brain up to 10 times faster than the previous scanner, or up to 10 times more precisely. By combining this data with data from other technologies we have available at CINN, such as brain stimulation, electrophysiology we can blend different data sets and use different levels of analysis to understand the same process.
Professor Tom Johnstone explains how important the new scanner will be in CINN’s research. The new scanner will not only have the ability to look at the brain, but to look at other parts of the body, including the cardiovascular function – even a beating heart. As chronic psychological stress has an impact on cardiovascular health, with the new scanner we will have the ability to look at more than the brain which will help link the brain and the body in research.
Teams from neuroscience and food and nutritional science at CINN and the University of Reading are researching the links between the gut and brain and how what we eat affects how we think and vice versa, which we will be able to look at with this new scanner.