Our facility is fully embedded within the University Medical Center Groningen and has close ties to the University of Groningen. This means that expertise in different disciplines can always be included where needed. Combined over the two institutes, we have access to several state of the art modalities: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), eye-tracking, Electro Encephalography (EEG), Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). We provide support for both small and large scale studies. Especially for phase 1 and 2 studies, that are often highly experimental and relatively small scale, we can provide dense sampling with EEG, MRI or speech analyses to capture subtle changes of the brain. We are also able to accommodate studies with new biomarkers to be piloted and validated. An important strength of our facility is excellent statistical aid to analyse MRI and other biomarker results.
The CNC facility has been in operation since 2004 providing support for a wide variety of clients, ranging from (pharmaceutical) industry, academia, and clinical research. All this is done in close collaboration with the neurology-, psychiatry-, ophthalmology- neurosurgery, and nuclear department of the UMCG. The facility predominantly targets Cognitive brain research.
The CNC facility will happily assist you in challenging, advanced research using the best methods and analysis available.
Some examples of projects from our facility:
We have looked at the relation between brain network connectivity and neuroticism for a healthy population (Servaas et al) . We created a movie to visualise this effect using network analysis and spring directed graph layout. As can be seen in the movie, the network of a brain at REST becomes less modular with increasing scores on a neuroticism scale. That is the distinction between functional units in the brain becomes less clear with increasing neuroticism.
We applied advanced, temporally resolved network analysis to interrogate what changes in a brain during auditory hallucinations (Marschall et al). To this end, we calculated how well selected brain areas are connected at each point in time by looking at their instantaneous phase. If two brain areas are in phase, a strong connection is presumed at that point in time. This dynamic coherence pattern could be divided into nine so called phase locking patterns using the Leading Eigenvector Dynamics Analysis (LeiDA) in combination with k-means clustering. Each phase locking pattern indicates a “mode” of the brain. Switching between these modes was more erratic during auditory hallucinations than during periods of their absence.
To explore options, please contact us at [email protected]. We are looking forward to meeting you and discuss how our facility can aid your research.
The following services are provided:
For EEG, PET and other MRI modalities, we work closely together with the department of Neurosurgery (EEG), radiology (MR) and nuclear medicine (MiC).
General e-mail: [email protected]
Imaging facility for Clinical Neuroscience and Cognition
Hanzeplein 1
Triade, entrance 24
9713 GZ Groningen
The Netherlands
